A Few Thoughts on the Live Action Films of Trey Parker and Matt Stone

I come to you all today with maybe a hot take. I don't really know how people feel about this because they haven't done much outside their regular show as of late. Last week I watched two movies made by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and I have a few thoughts.

First things first, I love "South Park". I watch it in and out, catch some episodes here and there and recently watched, and loved, their pandemic special. "South Park" is a once in a generation show, and it is a true classic. And the "South Park" movie is an absolute masterpiece. I think it was robbed of an Oscar, that it is one of the funniest things ever put on screen and that it is so well made and so well voice acted and so well directed. So is "Team America: World Police". But, when Parker and Stone try their hand at live action movies, it just doesn't seem to work.

The two movies I watched were "Orgazmo" and "BASEketball". Now, I like these two movies, but they just don't hold the weight that "South Park", the show and movie, or "TAWP" do. Both of the movies I watched are very much of their time. They are very 1990's. The clothes, music, jokes, it all reeks of the 90's, as it should. "Orgazmo" looks like a porno, maybe on purpose, but that movie is very, very low budget. I thought that the story was funny enough, but everything outside of that was very blah. The actors were not great. I mean, when Ron Jeremy is one of the bigger stars, that is not a great sign. The movie was also very choppy and edited very bizarre. It was also only about 90 minutes, but it felt every bit of 90 minutes. Sure I laughed here and there, and it is always funny to me to hear them do the voices from "South Park", but I think I expected, and hoped for more. That is probably on me, considering it was one of their first full length features.

Now "BASEketball" is a whole other story. I used to adore that movie. It came out when I was 16, at the beginning of the height of "South Park", and it hit me in the exact right spot. I must have seen it close to two or three dozen times. And I continued to watch it into my 20's. My friends and I would get together, watch it and quote it for days. It felt like it was our movie. I look at that movie more fondly than "American Pie". And in a rewatch, it is still a much better movie. But my wife had never seen it, and I decided I was going to show it to her last night. I also hadn't seen it in close to a decade, and I just assumed it would hold up.

Well, it did not hold up as well as I had hoped. I still liked it, I still laughed at stuff and it definitely moved faster than "Orgazmo", but it just didn't hit me like it used to. My wife didn't like it at all, but I do not think her dislike clouded my feelings after watching it last night. Again, the jokes are very of the time. This was also when Parker and Stone had a ton of hair, and that was weird. The music was that god awful return of swing/crappy alternative music. Reel Big Fish was a prominent character in this movie. I cannot stand that band. But what was most upsetting to me was how little I did laugh, and how much, at least in my mind, I thought the humor was very blah. Some of it was on purpose. They made fun of themselves and their newfound fame. But, outside of that, there weren't nearly as many moments last night that made me laugh as much back when I was 16 or 20 or 25. It just felt old. Maybe I am just old. Again, I still enjoyed my viewing of "BASEketball", but it just wasn't as funny as I thought it would still be.

Something else I want to say, Parker and Stone don't owe me a goddamn thing. They have given me "South Park", "TAWP" and they created "Book of Mormon", which is incredible. But their live action movies just don't work for me like they used to. This is not meant to be a slight to them either. I just think all of us, including Parker and Stone, have grown up. Hell, they make fun of these movies all the time, going as far as injecting jokes about them in "South Park". So, if you are looking for a vehicle helmed by Parker and Stone, I suggest stick to their cartoons or puppet movies and shows, or go listen to "Book of Mormon". That is where they truly shine.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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