October 19, 2004

The Michael Moore Antidote

When I first walked into the theater last night to watch Team America I was worried. I was the only person there. Part of comedy is the communal experience. Years ago I saw Best in Show in an almost empty theater and thought I missed out on some of the humor. Shortly after the previews began two people sat down so my worry was slightly assuaged.

All fear went away when I saw how over-the-top the action scenes were as well as how deadpan the puppets were. The funniest aspect of Team America was the feeling that this was a serious action flick like Die Hard or any Arnold Schwartenegger movie.

One of my favorite parts was when Kim Jung Il took full advantage of Hans Blix's internationalist naiveness and tossed him to the sharks. The other one was when the Hollywood anti-warriors fought (and died) for peace.

It's raunchy, REALLY raunchy. There are more f-bombs launched than at a Pat Leahy-Dick Cheney dinner party. There's a scene where one puppet vomits up more vile content than the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District has dumped into Lake Michigan. Then there's the puppet sex. All this is hysterical, but definitely not for kids.

"Team America: F*** Yeah!"