South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is a 1999 American paper animated/computer animated satire musical comedy film based on the television series. It received positive reviews, and was the highest grossing animated movie to be rated R until it was surpassed by Sausage Party in 2016. The film, being a musical contained many memorable songs, with the song "Blame Canada" being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song.
Plot[]
The film opens with the innocent-looking Stan, Kyle, Kenny, (Matt Stone/Mike Judge) Cartman and Kyle's adopted Canadian brother Ike going to see the Canadian Terrance and Phillip movie Ass of Fire ("Mountain Town"). Although they have enough money to buy their tickets, they arrive at the theater to find they are forbidden to go see the movie. Due to consisting almost entirely of crude jokes, constant flatulence humor, and excessively strong language, the film is rated R and the boys must have a guardian with them. Wanting to see the movie, the boys hire a homeless man to buy tickets for them. This plot is a success. By the end of the film, though, everyone except for the boys has walked out, considering the movie to be far too vulgar ("Uncle F*cka"). Later, at Stark's Pond, the boys impress their classmates by imitating the movie's strong language, causing all the children to want to see the movie as well. Afterward, Wendy skates over to Stan and introduces Gregory of Yardale who Stan thinks Wendy is in love with ("Wendy's Song").
By the next day at school, the whole class, save for Wendy and Gregory, has seen the movie. Cartman, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny get sent to the school counselor, Mr. Mackey, after repeating the word "F*ck" and other obscenities to Mr. Garrison. In the counselor's office, Mr. Mackey tells the boys that he has notified their mothers of the incident, and tries to find out where the language originated from. The boys' mothers arrive and Cartman reveals that they heard them in Asses of Fire, which inadvertently makes the somewhat radical Sheila angry. Later in the cafeteria, Chef tells Stan (or rather, lets it slip) that to get girls to like him, he must find the clitoris, which Stan innocently believes is a mythical monster, rather than a part of the female genitalia. Mr. Mackey later holds a rehabilitation session with the kids to teach them to not use foul language ("It's Easy, M'Kay?").
After watching the film again, Cartman and Kenny argue over whether it is possible to light farts on fire like Terrance does in the movie. Accepting a $100-bet, Kenny tries it and, predictably, catches fire. An ambulance promptly arrives at the scene to try to help Kenny, but it is suddenly rammed out of the way by a salt truck, which then pours the salt on him, which puts the fire out. Despite that, though, Kenny later dies because Doctor Gouache (George Clooney) accidentally replaced his heart with a baked potato, giving him three seconds lifespan after revival. Kenny's soul tries to get into Heaven, where there are thirty odd naked women waiting conspicuously, but his access is denied and he ends up in Hell ("Hell Isn't Good").
After hearing that the boys went to the movie again, their parents ground Stan and Kyle for 2 weeks and Cartman for 3 weeks. The news of Kenny's death prompts Shelia and other mothers to begin protests and form "Mothers Against Canada" or "M.A.C." ("Blame Canada"). Instead of simply banning the show in the United States, they arrest Terrence and Phillip on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (Brent Spiner) With Brooke Shields (Minnie Driver) (making Conan kill himself in the process). At the United Nations, the problem escalates when the Americans blatantly and rudely refuse to return Terrance and Phillip (the U.S. representative gives the ambassador the bird and says "Suck Canada") despite the plea from the Canadian ambassador saying that their economy depends on Terrance and Phillip. The American then openly laughs at the Canadian accent. Enraged by this, the Canadians respond by bombing the residence of the Baldwin brothers.(Dave Foley) President Clinton then declares war on Canada and orders the execution of "war criminals" Terrance and Phillip within two days. When Sheila, who has become the U.S. Secretary of Offense, overhears Cartman admonishing her ridiculous measures ("Kyle's Mom's a B*tch"), she forces him to have a V-Chip placed in his brain by Doctor Vosknocker (Eric Idle) in order to prevent him from using profanity and swearing, much to his chagrin - every time he swears he gets an electric shock. With Terrance and Phillip set to be executed, Kyle, Stan and Cartman decide to form La Resistance and get the message out to the children of South Park, with the promise of punch and pie ("What Would Brian Boitano Do?").
Meanwhile in Hell, Satan has been torturing Kenny until Saddam Hussein appears and reveals that he is Satan's lover. When Satan discovers that a war has started on Earth, he says with delight that it has been prophesied that he can return to Earth once the blood of "these two Canadians" (who are, by Satan's accounts, innocent) touches American soil. Saddam makes no secret of the fact that he wants to rule the Earth (as well as do nothing but have sex with Satan, which Satan doesn't want), but Satan can't stand up to him ("Up There"). Kenny decides to try and help Satan while stopping Saddam, so he goes to Cartman, as a ghost, to try and get him to stop the executions.
Cartman tells Stan and Kyle at the meeting that Kenny visited him, warning him that Satan and Saddam Hussein will take over the world if Terrance and Phillip are executed. The boys are surprised to see Gregory, who can help. The gang's speech does not impress the rest of the children until Gregory (who knows what the boys are trying to say) comes up with a daring plan to rescue Terrance and Phillip. Stan, who is concerned that Wendy will like him more than Gregory if he is more "political" and volunteers to go on the mission ("La Resistance"). Stan, Kyle, and Cartman are sent to find "The Mole," a French boy who agrees to help them rescue Terrance and Phillip, who are to be executed in the electric chair during a USO show. With Canadians being taken away to "death camps", Kyle is forced to hide his adopted Canadian brother Ike in his attic.
Back in Hell, Kenny suggests Satan should leave Saddam for good. Although Satan initially agrees Saddam convinces him that he must go back to earth Earth so that they can rule together ("I Can Change"). As a result, Satan cannot bring himself to break up with Saddam and they head for the surface - much to Kenny's annoyance.
The USO show begins, the crowd cheering for the troops Shiela and Big Gay Al arrival and the boys begin to carry out the plan by stalling Big Gay Al's act ("I'm Super"). Cartman, tasked with turning off the power shortly before the execution begins, is frightened when the ghost of Kenny again warns him that Saddam and Satan are on their way. Cartman runs away without turning off the power, causing the Mole to be spotted and mortally wounded by guard dogs ("The Mole's Reprise"). Kyle and Stan desperately run to the stage to prevent the execution, but Kyle cannot bring himself to stand up to his mom and Sheila orders it to start.
Before it can start, though, the Canadians launch a surprise attack. Cartman rushes to turn off the electric chairs and receives a mild jolt that causes the V-chip to malfunction. The Americans and Canadians start battling each other. Stan runs after Terrance and Phillip, but a bomb goes off and the splash damage sends Stan flying face first into a puddle, while also knocking him unconscious. He regains consciousness and finds the "clitoris" which in this case turns out to be an all-knowing entity resembling a gigantic disembodied version of the anatomy part. The clitoris tells him to save Terrance and Phillip. He asks about Wendy, and the clitoris tells him to be confident because "chicks love confidence". Sheila watches the war, still convinced that M.A.C. was doing the right thing, but the other members leave angrily saying it has gone too far. Terrance and Phillip try to escape but the American forces and Sheila corner them.
Just as they are about to be killed, Stan, Kyle, and the rest of "La Resistance" stand in front of them. Kyle finally decides to stand up to his mom and says he wants her to stop fighting all these battles and just be his mom, and that she shouldn't blame Canada because it's his fault that he saw the movie in the first place. The American forces, seeing that Kyle has a point, decided not to fight any more, but Sheila - still refusing to admit that she was wrong - shoots Terrance and Phillip anyway. When their blood touches the ground, Satan and Saddam burst out from Hell and begin wreaking havoc, followed by Kenny, who takes advantage of the situation to return to Earth. The American forces try to kill Saddam by shooting him, but his body is bulletproof. Despite Sheila being shocked to see what she has done to the Earth, Satan is quickly pushed aside by Saddam who makes everyone, including the Canadian and American forces, bow down to him while Satan watches. Kenny insists to Satan that he should stand up to Saddam right now, but Satan says he can't. As havoc breaks loose, Saddam orders a big statue of himself, exactly where Cartman (who Saddam calls a fat kid) is standing. Cartman discovers that the V-chip's malfunction gave him the power to shoot electricity from his hands whenever he swears, which he does with gusto, and attacks Saddam with a multiple massive bursts of energy for calling him fat - finishing off with a long tirade of swearing (including "Barbara Streisand"). Saddam calls for Satan to help to kill Cartman, but Satan, finally tired of Saddam's abuse, angrily confronts Saddam, and kills him by throwing him upon a pointed, jagged rock in Hell.
Satan thanks Kenny for his help and offers him one wish. Kenny, despite the chance to come back to life, wishes for everything to return to how it was before the war - much to the army's and the boys' surprise. Satan grants his wish and returns to Hell, taking Mr. Garrison's puppet Mr. Hat as his new friend. The boys thank Kenny for his sacrifice, saying he's a "real pal". Kenny then takes down his hood for the first time, says goodbye, and disappears. Everything returns to normal; Sheila apologizes to Kyle for not paying attention to him and decides to end her anti-Canadian protest for good. Wendy suddenly kisses Stan, admitting she never liked Gregory. Canada and the United States become friends again, and everyone joins hands and sings about their happy ending ("Mountain Town (Reprise)"). At the end of the number, the boys see what appears to be a meteor shooting from the ground - Kenny's act of sacrifice was enough to get into Heaven. Sprouting wings and a halo, he enters Heaven (and gets the thirty odd naked women) The Songs Played During At The End Credits Of Long Way Down By Goo Goo Dolls And You Get What You Give By New Radicals
Cast[]
- Trey Parker as Stan Marsh / Eric Cartman / Gregory (speaking voice) / Satan / Mr. Garrison / Mr. Hat / Phillip Niles Argyle / Randy Marsh / Clyde Donovan / Tom – News Reporter / Midget in a Bikini / Bill Clinton / Canadian Ambassador / Bombardiers / Mr. Mackey / Army General / Ned Gerblansky / Christophe – Ze Mole (or The Mole) / Big Gay Al (singing voice) / Adolf Hitler / additional voices
- Matt Stone as Kyle Broflovski / Kenny McCormick (Hooded) / Saddam Hussein (credited to "Himself") / Terrance Henry Stoot / Big Gay Al / Ticket Taker / Stuart McCormick / Jimbo Kearn / Gerald Broflovski / Butters Stotch / American Ambassador / additional voices
- Mary Kay Bergman as Liane Cartman / Sheila Broflovski / Sharon Marsh / Carol McCormick / Wendy Testaburger / Clitoris / additional voices
- Isaac Hayes as Chef Jerome McElroy
- Jesse Howell, Anthony Cross-Thomas and Franchesca Clifford as Ike Broflovski (Franchesca Clifford was credited as "Francesca Clifford")
- Bruce Howell as Man in Theater
- Deb Adair as Woman in Theater
- Jennifer Howell as Bebe Stevens
- George Clooney as Dr. Gouache ("Dr. Doctor" on screen)
- Brent Spiner as Conan O'Brien
- Minnie Driver as Brooke Shields
- Dave Foley as the Baldwin brothers
- Eric Idle as Dr. Vosknocker
- Nick Rhodes as Canadian Fighter Pilot
- Toddy E. Walters as Winona Ryder
- Stewart Copeland as American Soldier #1
- Stanley G. Sawicki as American Soldier #2
- Mike Judge as Kenny McCormick (Unhooded)
- Howard McGillin as Gregory (singing voice) (uncredited)
- Cheryl Wagner as Woman in Heaven (speaking voice)
Production[]
Development[]
Development for the film began during production of South Park's first season in January 1998. Co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone signed a deal with Comedy Central that April which contracted the duo to produce episodes until 1999, as well as an unspecified amount to produce a film based on the series. Part of Parker and Stone's conditions were that the film must at least receive an R rating, keeping it in line with the series' humor and the short films which inspired it. Parker stated that their desire was to approach the film from a more creative perspective and do more than a simple feature length episode. Despite alleged pressure from Paramount Pictures executives to tone down the film, Parker and Stone's conditions were eventually met.
"They really wanted to be able to go beyond the South Park television show," Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox reported to TV Guide. "They really fought hard for and won the right to make an R-rated movie." Paramount executives went as far to prepare graphs displaying how much more revenue a PG-13-rated South Park film would potentially generate. The William Morris Agency, which represented Parker and Stone, pushed for the film's production to begin as soon as possible, while public interest was still high, instead of several years into its run, as was the case with Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996).
Casting[]
As in the television series, most of the characters are voiced by Parker, Stone, and Mary Kay Bergman. Isaac Hayes reprised his role as Chef, and audio samples of staff children Jesse Howell, Anthony Cross-Thomas and Franchesca Clifford were used for the voice of Ike Broflovski. Guest voices for the film include George Clooney as Dr. Gouache, Brent Spiner as Conan O'Brien, Minnie Driver as Brooke Shields, Eric Idle as Dr. Vosnocker, and Dave Foley as brothers Alec, Billy, Daniel and Stephen Baldwin.
Michael McDonald, who performs the closing track "Eyes of a Child", performs Satan's high notes in "Up There", and Howard McGillin provides Gregory's singing voice in "La Résistance (Medley)". Former The Police drummer Stewart Copeland voices a United States Army soldier. Mike Judge, creator of Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill, provides Kenny's voice in his sole speaking appearance at the end of the film. Although initially denied by Paramount, Metallica vocalist James Hetfield performs the track "Hell Isn't Good", which was confirmed by Parker in the 2009 Blu-ray commentary.
Writing[]
The first season episode "Death" heavily influenced the film's screenplay; both plots center on the parents of South Park protesting Terrance and Phillip due to the perceived negative influence it has over their children. Parker stated, "After about the first year of South Park, Paramount already wanted to make a South Park movie, and we sort of thought this episode would make the best model just because we liked the sort of pointing at ourselves kind of thing." During this time, the team was also busy with the second and third seasons of the series, the former of which Parker and Stone later described as "disastrous". As such, perceiving that the initial fervor would wane, they decided to write the film as a personal, fully committed musical.
Animation[]
The film was animated using Alias|Wavefront PowerAnimator, running on SGI O2 and Octane workstations. Characters and individual scene elements were designed with texture mapping and shading that, when rendered, resemble the cutout animation of the short films and the series' first episode. The animation crew used a multiprocessor SGI Origin 2000 and 31 multiprocessor Origin 200 servers for both rendering and asset management. Backgrounds, characters and other items could be saved separately or as fully composited scenes, with convenient access at later points. "By creating flat characters and backgrounds in a 3D environment, we are able to add textures and lighting effects that give the film a cut-out construction paper stop-motion style which would have taken many more months if done traditionally," stated line producer Gina Shay. By the fifth season, the series transitioned to Maya. The studio now runs a 120-processor render farm that can produce 30 or more shots per hour. The animation of South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut is therefore seen as an example of how South Park's visual quality has improved in recent seasons. In the audio commentary on the 2009 Blu-ray release, Stone and Parker criticize how "bad and time consuming" the animation was during that time. IGN described the animation as "fall[ing] somewhere within the middle ground—not quite cardboard cutouts, but not quite fully computerized either." Nate Boss, in a review for High-Def Digest, commented, "There is no comparing the two, as the movie has a classic (for South Park, at least) animated feel, so full of the cut-outs we have grown to love, while the newer seasons sport a more computer processed feel." The film, compared to the series at the time of its production, was animated in widescreen (1.66:1). "Although the 'primitive' animation of South Park is supposedly a joke, it's really a secret weapon," wrote Stephanie Zacharek of Salon. "The simplicity of Parker and Stone's technique is what makes it so effective."
Post-production[]
The crew alternated between the film and the series, pushing both to scheduling extremes; changes to the film were made as late as two weeks before its release as the crew continually disputed with Paramount: "They wanted a Disney kind of trailer. We said no. They put together a totally un-South Park MTV video for the song 'What Would Brian Boitano Do?'. We had to go make our own version." Paramount's first trailer for the film advertised it, according to Parker, as "the laughiest movie of the summer", and promoted it in a way that South Park "was completely against". Parker and Stone told the studio of their dissatisfaction with the trailer, and upon the creation of a second trailer with minimal changes, the two broke the videocassette in half before returning it to the studio. "It was war," said Stone in 2000. "They were saying, 'Are you telling us how to do our job?' And I was going, 'Yes, because you're f*cking stupid and you don't know what you're doing.'" In another instance, Paramount used the film's songs to create a music video for MTV. In accordance with broadcast standards, various parts were edited out; Parker described the final result as a "horrible little medley with all humor absent". The studio sent the original tape to Parker and Stone over the weekend with plans to send it to MTV on Monday to prepare it for a Wednesday airdate. Instead, Stone took the tape home, and Paramount threatened to sue Parker and Stone in response. Parker also noted that the title is an innuendo, and that "they (the MPAA) just didn't get it".
Music[]
The film's songs were written by Parker and Marc Shaiman; Shaiman also composed the film's score. The fourteen songs in the film recall various Broadway musicals. The soundtrack also parodies many familiar Disney conventions, with several songs spoofing such films as Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. "Mountain Town" has been compared to Oklahoma! and Beauty and the Beast's "Belle", while "La Résistance (Medley)" was favorably compared to Les Misérables. "I'm Super" recalls "Be Our Guest" and South Pacific's "Honey Bun", and "Kyle's Mom's a B*tch" echoes Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; "Up There", "I Can Change" and the "Mountain Town (Reprise)" recall The Little Mermaid's "Part of Your World", "Poor Unfortunate Souls" and "Part of Your World (Finale)"; and "Uncle F*cka" also drew comparisons to Oklahoma!, particulatly in its coda. "Hell Isn't Good", which accompanies Kenny's descent to Hell, was sung by an uncredited James Hetfield.
The soundtrack received critical acclaim, with Entertainment Weekly describing it as "a cast album that gleefully sends up all the Hollywood musical conventions we're being deprived of." The soundtrack was released June 15, 1999 by Atlantic Records. "Blame Canada" was frequently highlighted as one of the best songs in the album and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. "I was like, 'We're going to get nominated for an Academy Award for this.' I really was," Parker said. "I even told him [Shaiman]." Shaiman spoke of the song, "We're making fun of people who pick ridiculous targets to blame anything about what's going on in their lives, so Canada was just the perfect, ridiculous, innocuous choice for a target." In 2011, Time called the soundtrack the "finest, sassiest full-movie musical score since the disbanding of the Freed unit at MGM."
Release[]
Paramount and Warner Bros. Pictures (whose respective parent companies Viacom and Time Warner formerly jointly owned Comedy Central) collaborated in distributing the film; Paramount released the film in the United States, while Warner Bros. distributed the film internationally.
The film was rated R for "pervasive vulgar language and crude sexual humor, and for some violent images" by the Motion Picture Association of America. The board's objections to the film were described in highly specific terms in private memos by Paramount executives. The MPAA initially insisted on the more prohibitive NC-17 rating. Of the six times the film was screened to the MPAA, it was designated NC-17 after five screenings, the last of which was two weeks before its scheduled release. A marketing agent from Paramount called Parker and Stone and explained that the studio "needed" an R. In response, Stone contacted producer Scott Rudin, who in turn called a Paramount executive and, in Stone's words, "freaked out on them". The film's rating was lowered to R the following day, with the original film intact. "The ratings board only cared about the dirty words; they're so confused and arbitrary," said Parker to The New York Times. "They didn't blink twice because of violence." During production of the film's trailer, the MPAA objected to certain words but found no issue with a scene in which soldiers are shot dead. "They had a problem with words, not bullets," he said. The MPAA gave Paramount specific notes for the film; in contrast, Parker and Stone's NC-17-rated Orgazmo, released in 1998 by Rogue Pictures, was not given any specifications on how to be acceptable for an R rating. The duo attributed the R rating to the fact that Paramount and Warner Bros. are both members of the MPAA; the former denied these claims. In the United Kingdom, the film was given a 15 certificate by the British Board of Film Classification for "frequent coarse language and crude sexual references" with no edits made. In Australia, it was rated MA15+ (Mature accompanied for those under 15) by the Australian Classification Board. In Canada, the film received 18A and 14A certificates in most provinces, and a 13+ certificate in Quebec.
As predicted through the characters' actions in the film, there were numerous news reports of underage patrons unsuccessfully attempting to sneak into the film. There were also reports of adolescents seeing the film under the pretense of purchasing tickets to Wild Wild West, which was released on the same date. This was a result of an industry-wide crackdown on such attempts, as proposed by President Bill Clinton in response to the moral panic generated by the Columbine High School massacre two months before the film's release. The film was cited, along with American Pie, as an explicit film released in the summer of 1999 tempting underage youth to sneak into theaters. There were similar reports of the film attracting an underage crowd when the film was released in the United Kingdom in August 1999.
Amidst the aftermath of Columbine in relation to the film's release, Parker was questioned whether he felt "youth culture [was] under fire", to which he commented: "[I]t's amazingly strange, because that climate is what the movie is all about, and we wrote it more than a year ago. So when [Columbine] happened, we were like, 'Wow.' What we wrote about in this movie came true in terms of people's attitudes. The movie is also about war, and then that happened, too." Hayes responded to conservatives urging prudishness as a cure for society's ills: "If we give in to that and allow [entertainment] to become a scapegoat, you might wind up living in who-knows-what kind of state... If you believe in [your artistic vision] and you've got a moral conviction, take it to 'em!" The rating of the film later brought comparisons to Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, which was released in theaters in a digitally altered and censored version two weeks after South Park; the original cut was rated NC-17 before Warner Bros. altered it to ensure an R rating. In response to these debates and controversy, Stone called the MPAA a "bumbling, irresponsible organization".
Promotion[]
Paramount's licensing arm significantly expanded retail distribution beyond specialty stores (Hot Topic, Spencer's) to major retailers (Target, J.C. Penney), which involved carefully stripping T-shirts of objectionable material. Licensing industry observers credited Comedy Central with carving out a profitable niche in an industry dominated by partnerships linking fast-food restaurants and major film studios, which was particularly difficult for South Park, as fast-food chains did not want to associate with the series' content. Eventually, J.C. Penney ended its South Park tie-ins in April 1999 as a result of customer complaints. In July 1999, Parker and Stone appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien to promote the film's release. During the interview, Parker and Stone showed a clip of the film in which O'Brien (Brent Spiner) hands over Terrance and Phillip to the US government before committing suicide. Upon seeing the clip, O'Brien responded that his interns thought that it was "really funny", but were annoyed that the Late Night set was portrayed as on the top floor of the GE Building, when it was really on the sixth floor. The film also suffered negative publicity before release. It was initially reported that on the day of the Columbine massacre, a friend of the perpetrators, Chris Morris, was seen wearing a black T-shirt depicting characters from South Park. Both Parker and Stone are from Colorado, and Stone attended the nearby Heritage High School. Following the massacre, Stone took a three-day sabbatical: "Nothing seemed funny after that," he said. South Park was also, at the time, generally waning in popularity: ratings dropped nearly 40 percent with the premiere of the third season and, according to Entertainment Weekly, "it [wasn't] the pop-culture behemoth it was last year [1998]." In response to the decline, Parker commented, "Suddenly we suck and we're not cool anymore. The funny thing is, last year we were saying the same things and we were hip, fresh, and cute. Now they're telling us we're pushing 30, we're failures, and we're sellouts."
Home media[]
The film was released on DVD in the US on November 23, 1999, with a VHS release initially exclusively as a rental. A traditional retail VHS release was issued on May 16, 2000. The DVD contained three theatrical trailers for special features, which many criticized as being typical of "bare-bones" DVD releases. A laserdisc release was issued on January 18, 2000; this release is markedly rare, as it was issued late in the format's lifespan. The film was re-released on Blu-ray on June 30, 2009, ten years after its theatrical release. In addition to the trailers, this release featured an audio commentary from Parker and Stone and a special "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" music video. This release was sourced from the original film negative, which resulted in audio sync issues. IGN's Scott Lowe explained, "Although clearly aged, South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut looks great and is free of the washed out, compressed imperfections of previous standard definition releases of the film." However, Michael Zupan of DVDTalk notes that an automatic digital scratch removal process may have inadvertently removed some intentional lines from the picture, notably during Cartman's first scene with the V-chip. In the commentary, Parker and Stone, as well as other crew members, reveal that they had no recollection of making the film due to heavy scheduling.
Reception[]
Critical response[]
On Rotten Tomatoes, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut has an 80% approval rating based on reviews from 95 critics, and an average rating of 7.10/10. The website's consensus states: "Its jokes are profoundly bold and rude but incredibly funny at the same time." On Metacritic it has a score of 73 out of 100 based on reviews from 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B-" on scale of A to F.
Rita Kempley of The Washington Post described it as "outrageously profane" and "wildly funny", writing that "While censorship is the filmmakers' main target […] [Parker and Stone's] favorite monster is the Motion Picture Association of America, self-appointed guardians of the nation's chastity. It's all in good dirty fun and in service of their pro-tolerance theme." Stephen Holden of The New York Times regarded the film's "self-justifying moral" as "about mass entertainment, censorship and freedom of speech." He also praised Cartman's subjection to the V-chip as "the movie's sharpest satirical twist, reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange". Entertainment Weekly graded the film an A− and commended the film's message in a post-Columbine society, as well as the musical numbers, which "brilliantly parody / honor the conventions of Broadway show tunes and, especially, the Disney-formula ditties that began with Alan Menken and Howard Ashman." Writing for The Washington Post, Michael O'Sullivan neutrally regarded the film's offensive nature, commenting "Yes, the lampooning is more broad than incisive, but under the bludgeoning of this blunt instrument very few sacred cows are left standing." Reviewing the film for Time, Richard Corliss wrote that "you may laugh yourself sick – as sick as this ruthlessly funny movie is." Corliss later named the film his fifth favorite animated film of all time.
The film also had detractors, without noting the conservative family groups offended by the film's humor. Jack Matthews of the Daily News suggested the film's running time made Parker and Stone "run out of ideas". Roger Ebert stated that the "vicious social satire" of the film both "offended" and "amazed" him. Ebert rated the film 2+1⁄2 of 4 stars, calling it "the year's most slashing political commentary", but also wrote that "it is too long and runs out of steam, but it serves as a signpost for our troubled times. Just for the information it contains about the way we live now, thoughtful and concerned people should see it. After all, everyone else will."
Box office[]
On a $21 million budget, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut opened at number three behind Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Tarzan, with a gross of $14,783,983 over the four-day Independence Day weekend from 2,128 theaters for an average of $6,947 per theater ($11,090,000 and an average of $5,211 over three days) and a total of $19,637,409 since its Wednesday launch. It went on to gross $52,037,603 in the United States and Canada, with the 3-day opening making up 22% of the final domestic gross. It made an additional $31.1 million internationally for a total of $83,137,603 worldwide.
It was the highest-grossing R-rated animated film since Akira (1988), until it was surpassed by Sausage Party (2016), which grossed more than $140 million worldwide; that record was, in turn, surpassed by Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train in 2020, which grossed more than $500 million worldwide.
Gallery[]
