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ARTLOOK #7 | December / January 2004/2005
Reviewed by:
Patrick Garson
Directed by Trey Parker
Written by Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Pam Brady
Distributed by United International Pictures
Rated MA15+
Team America: World Police
I came out of Team America asking a seemingly unfair question: why hadn't I enjoyed it as much as Dr Strangelove? It seems unfair, after all, how could those scatophiliac boys from Colorado compare with a deadpan Kubrick and Sellers at his best? The answer is that they can't. But why would I expect them to? Both these films purport to be satire, and that's just not true. However well Team America works as a comedy, as satire, it's very weak indeed.
Gary is an actor, a damned fine one with beautifully coiffed hair. When Team America , a Thunderbirds-like group of American do-gooders loses their leader in a botched mission he seems the perfect replacement. But can Gary overcome his inner demons in time to face down a missile-packing Kim Jong Il and the evil Film Actors Guild (FAG)? The answers are not very surprising, though there are some good jokes along the way.
Matt Stone and Trey Parker mock everything from Michael Moore to Alec Baldwin, TV shows, movies and global politics, with an attitude that someone, somewhere has no doubt labelled 'irreligious'. There's also a heap of bum, vomit and sex gags too, and they're probably the funniest. Made with marionettes, the film on the whole looks pretty great and the songs—if not as funny as the South Park movie—still have quite a few chuckles in them. So why didn't I like it?
The problem with Team America , like much of South Park the series, is one of consistency. For every joke that works, there's easily ten that don't. The scattershot approach adopted by the pair works only sporadically on TV, in film it's pretty deadly. Furthermore, Team America falls prey to one of the greatest dangers of parody. Sooner or later, almost every failed satire in the world tries to cash in on the genre that it's mocking. Deprived of a proper dramatic base, filmmakers of satire often fall back on what they lampoon. Browbeaten with messages of how tawdry and stupid the genre is, it's impossible to feel anything for characters and stories that the film has mostly spent mocking. Team America attempts this parlay almost from the start, wasting long minutes on exposition and characterisation that no viewer in their right minds would buy.
So, as parody the film doesn't work, what about satire? How does Team America rack up as a political statement? Again, the answer is pretty poorly. Parker and Stone want to have their cake and eat it too, criticising everyone and then delivering a message—a funny message, admittedly—that's so garbled and contrary it's say hard to say what the film's about. Faced with this ethical black hole, I started deconstructing the argument point by point: 'Janeanne Garofaelo doesn't say that… Foreign Policy is actually this…' It's frustrating to watch, and it's frustrating to do. And it all feels a little prescriptive. Parker and Stone don't really seem to know anything about politics and international relations, and in effect they have become what they are criticising: another pair of ignorant Americans trying to tell the world what it needs to be happy. I hate that.
The defence, of course, is that it's just comedy, man, relax. But it's not just comedy; it's a comment about society and it's not too much to demand that it be an intelligent and entertaining one. Besides, the movie doesn't really work on either count; too inconsistent as both comedy and satire. What can I say? I still love the bomb.
Patrick Garson is artlook,s film editor and a freelance film reviewer.
