South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is a 1999 American adult animated musical comedy film based on the Comedy Central adult animated television series South Park. The film was directed by series co-creator Trey Parker and stars the regular television cast of Parker, Matt Stone, Mary Kay Bergman and Isaac Hayes, with George Clooney, Eric Idle and Mike Judge in supporting roles. The screenplay was written by Parker, Stone and Pam Brady. It follows Stan Marsh as well as his friends Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick as they sneak into an R-rated film featuring their idols Terrance and Phillip and begin cursing incessantly. Eventually, their mothers pressure the United States to wage war against Canada for allegedly corrupting their children, giving Stan, Kyle and Cartman no choice but to unite the other children, fight their own parents, put both America and Canada back into control and rescue Terrance and Phillip, while Kenny tries to stop a prophecy when Satan and Saddam Hussein conquer the world.

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTrey Parker
Produced by
Written by
Based on
South Park
by
  • Trey Parker
  • Matt Stone
Starring
Music byMarc Shaiman (score)
Edited byJohn Venzon
Production
companies
Distributed by
  • Paramount Pictures (North America)
  • Warner Bros. Pictures (International)
Release date
  • June 30, 1999 (1999-06-30) (USA)
Running time
81 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$21 million[2]
Box office$83.1 million[2]

The film is primarily centered on themes of censorship and bad parenting; it also serves as a parody and satire of the animated films of the Disney Renaissance, musicals such as Les Misérables, and the controversy surrounding the show itself. The film also heavily lampoons the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA); Parker and Stone battled the MPAA throughout the production process and the film received an R rating just two weeks prior to its release. A writing team consisting of Parker, Stone, and Pam Brady was assembled. They conceived numerous plot ideas, with Parker and Stone's being the one developed into a film. The film features twelve original songs by Parker and Marc Shaiman, with additional lyrics by Stone. The film was produced by Comedy Central Films, Scott Rudin Productions and Braniff Productions.

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is Comedy Central’s first animated feature film and only theatrically released animated feature film. It was released theatrically in the United States and Canada on June 30, 1999 by Paramount Pictures, with Warner Bros. Pictures handling international distribution, until around 2013. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its soundtrack, humor and themes. Produced on a $21 million budget, it went on to gross $83.1 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing R-rated animated film of all time until it was surpassed by Sausage Party in 2016. The song "Blame Canada" earned Parker and Stone a nomination for Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 72nd Academy Awards, but lost to "You'll Be in My Heart" from Tarzan. It also received three Annie Award nominations, including for Best Animated Feature.

Plot

Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick are four third grade friends that live in the small town of South Park, Colorado. One Sunday morning, Stan invites Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny to see a movie starring the boys' favorite Canadian comedy duo, Terrance and Phillip. However, the boys are not admitted due to the film being rated R, so they pay a homeless man to accompany them (although they make him leave once getting them into the auditorium in a $10 vodka exchange). Immediately after the movie, the boys begin swearing everywhere they go. The other children are impressed and all see the movie as well - except for Wendy Testaburger, the girl that Stan likes, who spends her time with brilliant exchange student Gregory.

The children swear profusely in school the next day, which infuriates their teacher, Mr. Garrison, and leads to the school counselor, Mr. Mackey, and their mothers finding out. The children are forbidden from seeing the movie again, but after attending a class with Mr. Mackey that "cures them", they sneak out and see it again anyway. Afterwards, Cartman bets Kenny $100 that he cannot set his fart on fire like Terrance did in the film - his attempt goes too far and he sets himself on fire and a dump truck pours salt all over him. Kenny is rushed to the hospital where Dr. Doctor and the doctors try their best to revive him, but they unintentionally replace his heart with a baked potato, which explodes, killing him. Upon learning that their sons saw the movie again, their respective mothers ground them, while Kenny is sent to Hell for various misdeeds. He is tormented by Satan and his new partner, the recently deceased Saddam Hussein. Kenny learns that Saddam and Satan are lovers that have a dysfunctional relationship, and Saddam dominates and demeans Satan.

Back on Earth, Kyle's mother, Sheila Broflovski, leads the parents of South Park in a campaign against Terrance and Phillip, as well as the whole nation of Canada. Terrance and Phillip are then arrested on the Conan O'Brien Show as war criminals, which also results in Conan's suicide. When the United States refuses to release the duo, Canada retaliates by bombing the residence of the Baldwin brothers. Sheila and President Bill Clinton announce that the United States will go to war with Canada and have Terrance and Phillip executed at a USO show. After she overhears Cartman degrading her in a humorous song, Sheila has him implanted with a V-Chip, a device that administers an electric shock every time he swears.

In Hell, Kenny hears Satan declare that the war is a sign of the Apocalypse and that when the blood of two innocent Canadians touches American soil, he will invade and conquer the world. Kenny attempts to persuade Satan to abandon Saddam, but to no avail. A ghostly Kenny visits Cartman to warn him. Unable to reason with their mothers, the three boys form La Résistance, partly so that Stan can win over Wendy as well as free Terrence and Philip. Gregory takes charge of the group and develops a rescue plan. He tells Stan to recruit a God-hating French-accented boy expert on covert operations named "The Mole."

La Résistance infiltrate the USO show using the Mole's expertise, but Kenny's ghost scares Cartman again and he forgets to deactivate the alarm. The Mole is discovered and killed by guard dogs, so the remaining boys attempt to warn their mothers about the prophecy and an attack by Satan and Saddam. They are laughed at, and Terrence and Philip's electric chairs are activated. The Canadian Army attacks the show and a battle ensues between the two armies. In the chaos, the boys are able to free Terrance and Phillip - in the process, Cartman is electrocuted briefly and his V-chip begins to malfunction. The mothers, seeing the destruction their movement has incited, decide to give up and look for their children, leaving only Sheila clinging to the cause.

After receiving a confidence-boosting vision from "The Clitoris", Stan leads the kids to Terrance and Phillip, who have been cornered by the United States Army. La Résistance forms a human shield while Kyle tries to persuade the soldiers and stands up to his mother against the killing. The soldiers begin to back down, but Sheila refuses and shoots Terrance and Phillip anyway, which results in Satan, his minions, and Saddam emerging from a fiery portal and slaughtering at will, invincible to retaliation. Because of all this, a regretful Sheila finally comes to her senses, confessing she was just trying to make the world a better place for children. Saddam successfully cows Satan once again and makes everyone bow to him as the lord of the Earth. However, when he insults Cartman, the latter swears and a bolt of energy shoots through his pointing finger and kills a minion. Realizing his newly acquired power, Cartman starts using profanity to power himself up and shoot electrical bolts at Saddam. Saddam continues to demean Satan and boss him around throughout this, which finally causes Satan to snap and throw him back into Hell, where he is impaled and killed on a stalagmite (although eventually revealed to not really be dead, as he is briefly shown singing in the final musical number while still impaled).

Satan then thanks Kenny for supporting him and grants him one wish; Kenny asks for everything to return to how it was before the war, even though it means he will have to go back to Hell. He takes off his hood, revealing his face, and says goodbye to his friends. South Park is restored to its former glory and everyone who was killed is revived. Sheila apologizes to Kyle for not listening to him, Wendy kisses Stan and reveals that she never cared for Gregory, and instead of returning to Hell, Kenny ascends to Heaven due to his act of sacrifice.

In the post-credit scene, Ike, the Broflovski's adoptive child from Canada, who was sent to the attic by Kyle to prevent the American army from sending him to a Canadian concentration camp, eats a rat while waiting for his family to come home.

Cast
George Clooney voices
Dr. Gouache.
Brent Spiner provides the voice of Conan O'Brien.
Eric Idle of Monty Python performs the voice of Dr. Vosknocker.
Mike Judge, creator of Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill, voiced Kenny McCormick unhooded in the film.
Main article: List of South Park characters

Production

Development
South Park co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone co-wrote Bigger, Longer & Uncut, while Parker became the director of the film.

Developmental stages began for the film midway through the series' first season production in January 1998.[4] Co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone signed a deal with Comedy Central in April 1998 that contracted the duo to producing South Park episodes until 1999, gave them a slice of the lucrative spinoff merchandising the show generated within its first year, as well as an unspecified seven-figure cash bonus to bring the show to the big screen, in theaters.[5] A large part of Parker and Stone's conditions attached to any potential movie project was that it must at least be R-rated, to keep in touch with the series' humor and its roots, the short The Spirit of Christmas. Parker stated that their desire was to approach the film from a much more creative perspective and do something other than a simple movie-length version of a regular episode.[4] Despite alleged pressure from Paramount Pictures officials to keep the movie toned down, the two won the battle for a more mature rating.

"They really wanted to be able to go beyond the South Park television show," said Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox to TV Guide at the time. "They really fought hard for and won the right to make an R-rated movie."[6] Paramount executives went as far to prepare graphs displaying how much more money a PG-13-rated South Park feature would perhaps accumulate.[7] The William Morris Agency, which represented Parker and Stone, pushed for movie production to begin as soon as possible, while public interest was still high, instead of several years into its run, as was done with Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996).[8]

Casting

The cast of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is mostly carried over faithfully from the television series. Co-creator Trey Parker voices the characters of Eric Cartman and Stan Marsh, and Satan, Clyde Donovan, Mr. Garrison, Phillip Niles Argyle, Randy Marsh, Mr. Mackey, Ned Gerblansky, the singing voice of Big Gay Al, the speaking voice of Gregory, The Mole, Adolf Hitler, and President Bill Clinton, as well as multiple other background characters. Matt Stone portrays Kyle Broflovski and Kenny McCormick, as well as Saddam Hussein (even though during the end credits it says that he was voiced by himself as a joke), Terrance Henry Stoot, Big Gay Al, Jimbo Kearn, Butters Stotch, Stuart McCormick, Gerald Broflovski, Bill Gates, and additional voices. Mary Kay Bergman voices Wendy Testaburger, the core mothers of the film (Sheila Broflovski, Sharon Marsh, Liane Cartman, and Carol McCormick), Shelley Marsh, and the clitoris. Isaac Hayes reprised his role from the series as Chef, and voice clips of staff children Jesse Howell, Anthony Cross-Thomas, and Franchesca Clifford make up Ike Broflovski. Guest voices for the film included George Clooney as Dr. Gouache, Brent Spiner as Conan O'Brien, Minnie Driver as Brooke Shields, Eric Idle as Dr. Vosnocker, and Dave Foley provides the combined voices of Alec, Billy, Daniel, and Stephen Baldwin.[7] Michael McDonald as himself (the track "Eyes of a Child") and as Satan's high notes in "Up There", and Howard McGillin provides Gregory's singing voice in "La Resistance (Medley)". Stewart Copeland, former drummer for The Police, guests as an American soldier. Mike Judge, creator and voices 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.[7] Although initially denied by Paramount, Metallica lead singer James Hetfield provides vocals for the track "Hell Isn't Good", which was confirmed by Parker in the 2009 Blu-ray commentary.[9]

Writing

The season one episode "Death" heavily influenced the film's screenplay. The plot and theme of both scripts revolves heavily around the parents of South Park protesting about Terrance and Phillip due to the perceived negative influence it has over their children. Parker said, "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."[10] During the time, the team was also busy writing the second and third seasons of the series, the former of which Parker and Stone later described as "disastrous". As such, they figured the phenomenon would be over soon, and they decided to write a personal, fully committed musical.[11]

Animation

The animation in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was created in 3D using Alias|Wavefront (now the Alias Systems Corporation) PowerAnimator software, running on Silicon Graphics O2 and Octane workstations. Characters and individual scene elements were designed with both texture mapping and shading that, when rendered, resemble 2D paper cut-out stop-motion animation.[12] The artists at South Park Studios (at the time, called South Park Productions) used a multiprocessor SGI Origin 2000 and 31 multiprocessor Origin 200 servers (with 1.14 terabytes of storage) for both rendering and asset management. Backgrounds, characters and other items could be saved separately or as fully composited scenes, with speedy access later.[12] "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," said Gina Shay, line producer of the film.[12] The animation team, beginning with season five, began using Maya instead of PowerAnimator.[13] The studio now runs a 120-processor render farm that can produce 30 or more shots an hour.[14] As the show's visual quality has substantially improved in recent seasons, the animation of South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut is a prime example of the show's old, cruder, even more primitive animation style.[15] In the audio commentary on the 2009 Blu-ray reissue of the film, Stone and Parker take ample time to criticize how "bad and time consuming" the animation was during the era.[9] IGN described the animation as "fall[ing] somewhere within the middle ground—not quite cardboard cutouts, but not quite fully computerized either."[16] Nate Boss, in a review of the Blu-ray reissue 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."[17] The film, unlike the television series (at the time), was animated in widescreen (1.66:1).[11] "Although the 'primitive' animation of South Park is supposedly a joke, it's really a secret weapon," said Stephanie Zacharek of Salon. "The simplicity of Parker and Stone's technique is what makes it so effective."[18]

Post-production

The team working on the film commuted between the project and the series, pushing both to scheduling extremes (changes to Bigger, Longer & Uncut were made as late as two weeks before its release) and fighting constantly with Paramount.[19] "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."[19] 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 and sent it back in its original envelope. "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 fucking stupid and you don't know what you're doing.'"[20] In another instance, Paramount took the songs from the film and created a music video to be aired on MTV. In accordance with broadcast standards, the studio cut various "R-rated" parts out and edited it into what Parker described as a "horrible little medley with all humor absent". The studio sent the original tape to Parker and Stone over a weekend with plans to send it to MTV on Monday to prepare it for airtime beginning Wednesday. However, Stone instead put the tape in the trunk of his car and drove home to which Paramount threatened to sue Parker and Stone in response.[20] Parker also noted that the title of the film is an innuendo, and "they (the MPAA) just didn't get it".[21]

Music
Main article: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (soundtrack)

The musical score and songs featured in the film were composed and written by Parker and Marc Shaiman. The musical features 14 songs, each evoking a familiar Broadway style.[22] The soundtrack also parodies many familiar Disney conventions, with several songs spoofing Disney musicals such as Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid.[23] The tracks "Mountain Town" brought comparisons to Oklahoma! and the opening to Beauty and the Beast ("Belle"), and the "La Resistance" medley drew forth favorable Les Misérables comparisons.[24] "I'm Super" recalls Beauty and the Beast's "Be Our Guest" and South Pacific's Honey Bun and "Kyle's Mom's a Bitch" echoes Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; "Up There", "I Can Change" and the "Mountain Town (Reprise)" recalls The Little Mermaid's "Part of Your World", "Poor Unfortunate Souls" and "Part of Your World (Finale)"; and "Uncle Fucka" is reminiscent of Oklahoma! (especially the ending).[25] Additionally, the song "Hell Isn't Good", which accompanies Kenny's descent to Hell, was sung by James Hetfield, who went uncredited for his performance.[9]

The score received critical acclaim, with Entertainment Weekly calling it "a cast album that gleefully sends up all the Hollywood musical conventions we're being deprived of."[23] The soundtrack was released June 15, 1999 by Atlantic Records. "Blame Canada" was frequently highlighted as one of the best from the soundtrack 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]."[26] The song takes place in the film when the United States blames Canada for corrupting its youth. "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," said Shaiman.[26] In 2011, Time called the music of the film the "finest, sassiest full-movie musical score since the disbanding of the Freed unit at MGM."[25]

Musical numbers
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Music from and Inspired By the Motion Picture)
Soundtrack album by
Various Artists
ReleasedJune 16, 1999
Recorded1999
GenreComedy
Length50:34
LabelAtlantic
ProducerDarren Higman
South Park chronology
Chef Aid: The South Park Album
(1998)		 South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Music from and Inspired By the Motion Picture)
(1999)		 Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics
(1999)
  • "Mountain Town" – Stan Marsh (Trey Parker), Kenny McCormick (Matt Stone), Kyle Broflovski (Stone), Eric Cartman (Parker), Sharon Marsh (Mary Kay Bergman), Sheila Broflovski (Bergman)
  • "Uncle Fucka" – Terrance (Stone) and Phillip (Parker)
  • "Wendy's Song (There's the Girl That I Like)" – Stan Marsh (Parker)
  • "It's Easy, MMMKay" – Mr. Mackey (Parker), Stan (Parker), Cartman (Parker), Kyle (Stone), Gregory (Parker), South Park Elementary Students
  • "Hell Isn’t Good" – D.V.D.A. featuring James Hetfield
  • "Blame Canada" – Sheila Broflovski (Bergman), Sharon Marsh (Bergman), Liane Cartman (Bergman), Carol McCormick (Bergman), Citizens of South Park
  • "Kyle's Mom's a Bitch" – Cartman (Parker), South Park Elementary Students
  • "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" – Stan (Parker), Kyle (Stone), Cartman (Parker)
  • "Up There" – Satan (Parker with Michael McDonald on the high notes)
  • "La Resistance" – Gregory (Howard McGillin), South Park Elementary Students, Sheila Broflovski (Bergman), Soldiers (Parker and Stone), Satan (Parker), Terrance (Stone), Phillip (Parker), Stan (Parker), Kyle (Stone), Cartman (Parker)
  • "I Can Change" – Saddam Hussein (Stone), Satan (Parker)
  • "I'm Super" – Big Gay Al (Parker)
  • "The Mole's Reprise" – Christophe le Mole (Parker), Kyle (Stone)
  • "Mountain Town (Reprise)" – Chef (Issac Hayes), Stan (Parker), Kyle (Stone), Cartman (Parker), Sheila Broflovski (Bergman), Sharon Marsh (Bergman), Liane Cartman (Bergman), Citizens of South Park
  • "What Would Brian Boitano Do? Pt. II" (end credits) – D.V.D.A
  • "Eyes of a Child" (end credits) – McDonald

Release
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was rated R for "pervasive vulgar language and crude sexual humor, and for some violent images" by the MPAA; some theaters stationed their ushers in front of their entrances in order to prevent underage South Park fans from sneaking into screenings of the film.

Paramount won a jump ball with Warner Bros. Pictures (parent companies Viacom and HBO's Time Warner respectively, jointly owned Comedy Central at the time) to release the film in the United States, with Warner Bros. getting the international rights.

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; this rating did not come as a surprise to most media outlets, as many had predicted long before that the film would most likely be for ages 17 and over.[8] However, there was much more discussion within the MPAA than initially reported in the media. The board's objections to the film were described in highly specific terms by Paramount executives in private memos circulating at Paramount. For months the ratings board insisted on the more prohibitive NC-17.[27] South Park was screened by the MPAA six times—five times, the board returned the movie to Paramount with an NC-17.[19] The last submission the filmmakers received was an NC-17, two weeks before release. A marketing agent from Paramount called the two and explained that the studio "needed" an R. In response, Stone called producer Scott Rudin and "freaked out." Rudin then called a Paramount executive and, in Stone's words, "freaked out on them." The next day the film was changed to an R rating without reason, with the original film intact.[20] "The ratings board only cared about the dirty words; they're so confused and arbitrary," said Parker to The New York Times shortly before the release of the film. "They didn't blink twice because of violence."[27] During production of the trailer for the film, the raters objected to certain words but had no problem with a scene in which cartoon bullets are killing soldiers. "They had a problem with words, not bullets," he said.[27] The MPAA gave Paramount specific notes for the film; in contrast, Parker and Stone's NC-17-rated comedy Orgazmo, released in 1998 by Rogue Pictures, was not given any specifications on how to make the movie acceptable for an R rating.[20] The duo attributed the R rating to the fact that Paramount and Warner Bros. are both members of the MPAA; the distributor dismissed these claims.[28] 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 cuts made.[1] In Australia, it was rated MA15+ (Mature accompanied for those under 15) by the Australian Classification Board without cuts. In Canada, the full cut of the film received 18A and 14A certificates in most provinces, while being receiving a 13+ certificate in Quebec.

As predicted through the actions of the boys in the film, there were numerous news reports of underage South Park fans engaging in unsuccessful attempts to gain entrance to the film at theaters.[28] There were also reports of adolescents purchasing tickets for Warner's own Wild Wild West, but instead sitting in to see South Park.[29] This came as a result of a movie-industry crackdown that would make it tougher for children to sneak into R-rated films, as proposed by President Bill Clinton at the time in response to the moral panic generated by the Columbine High School massacre, which occurred two months before the film's release.[30] South Park was cited, along with American Pie, as an explicit film released in the summer of 1999 tempting teens to sneak into theaters.[31] When the film was released in the United Kingdom in August 1999, there were similar reports of the film drawing an underage crowd.[32]

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."[33] Hayes, voice of Chef in the film, 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!"[34] 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 just two weeks after South Park.[35] Kubrick's original cut was given an NC-17 rating, but Warner Bros. then blocked out characters in an orgy scene so that the film would be rated R. In response to these debates and controversy, Stone called the MPAA a "bumbling, irresponsible organization".[36]

Promotion

The licensing arm of Paramount took the step of significantly expanding retail distribution beyond specialty stores (Hot Topic, Spencer's) to big chains (Target, J.C. Penney), which involved carefully stripping T-shirts of racy slogans from the television show.[37] Licensing industry observers credited Comedy Central with carving out a profitable niche in an industry dominated by powerful partnerships that link fast-food chains and Hollywood movie studios, which was particularly tough for South Park, as no fast-food chains wanted to ally themselves with the show's racy content.[38] Eventually, J.C. Penney ended the tie-ins with the show in April 1999 as a result of customer complaints.[39] On July 7, 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 a caricature of O'Brien, played by Brett Spiner, hands over Terrence and Phillip to the US government and jumps to his death from the set of Late Night. Upon seeing the clip, a bemused O'Brien responded that his interns saw the film and thought 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.[40] The film also suffered negative publicity before release. It was initially reported that on the day of the Columbine High School massacre, a friend of the killers (Chris Morris) was seen wearing a black T-shirt depicting characters from South Park.[41] Both Parker and Stone come from Colorado, and Stone went to Heritage High School, not far from Columbine High. He proceeded to take three days off from work following the shootings. "Nothing seemed funny after that," he said.[27] South Park was, at the time, generally waning in popularity: ratings dropped nearly 40 percent with the premiere of the series' third season and, according to Entertainment Weekly, "it [wasn't] the pop-culture behemoth it was last year [1998]."[19] 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."[19]

Home media

The film was released on DVD in the US on November 23, 1999, with a VHS release initially for rental services only, such as Blockbuster.[42] A traditional retail VHS release followed on May 16, 2000.[43] The DVD contained three theatrical trailers for special features, which many criticized as being typical of "bare-bones" DVD releases.[44] There is also a NTSC laserdisc version that was released on January 18, 2000; copies are extremely rare due to its release being very late in the format's life.[45] The film was re-released on Blu-ray on June 30, 2009 in celebration of its decade-long anniversary. In addition to the trailers included on the original DVD, this release featured an audio commentary from Trey Parker and Matt Stone as well as a special "What Would Brian Boitanno Do" music video. The film's 1080p AVC encode (at 1.66:1) was taken from the original film source as well with random audio sync issues, despite the fact the film was animated entirely digitally.[46] 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."[17] 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.[47] The disc contained a full-length audio commentary from Parker and Stone, as well as other crew members though most of them had no recollection of making the film due to heavy scheduling.[11][47] As of 2019, Warner Bros. has still not given the international versions of the film a Blu-ray release. However, the US Blu-ray can still be played in any country since it isn't region locked.

Reception

Critical reception

The film has an 80% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an average score of 6.99/10. The website's consensus states: "Its jokes are profoundly bold and rude but incredibly funny at the same time."[48] It also has a 73 out of 100 rating based on 31 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", at Metacritic.[49]

Rita Kempley of The Washington Post called the film "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."[50] Stephen Holden of The New York Times heavily praised the film, regarding 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, which he called "the movie's sharpest satirical twist, reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange".[51] Entertainment Weekly graded the film an A− and praised the film's message in a post-Columbine society, as well as Parker and Shaiman's 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."[52] The Washington Post's Michael O'Sullivan neutrally regarded the offensive nature of the film, commenting "Yes, the lampooning is more broad than incisive, but under the bludgeoning of this blunt instrument very few sacred cows are left standing."[53] In a review that was later quoted on the film's original home video cover, Richard Corliss from Time warned viewers "You may laugh yourself sick – as sick as this ruthlessly funny movie is."[54] Corliss would later name the film his fifth favorite animated film of all time.[55]

The film had its fair share of critical detractors, without noting the conservative family groups offended by the film's humor.[56][57] Jack Matthews of the Daily News suggested the film's running time made Parker and Stone "run out of ideas",[58] while 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 said, "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."[59]

Box office

On a budget of $21 million, the film opened at number three behind Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Disney's 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 ended up with a gross of $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 originally the highest-grossing R-rated animated film until it was surpassed by Seth Rogen's Sausage Party in 2016, which grossed $140 million worldwide.[2]

Accolades

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Blame Canada". When Parker and Stone attended the 72nd Academy Awards ceremony the two wore dresses as a joke. It was later revealed on 6 Days to Air in 2011 that the two were high on LSD during the pre-show and the ceremony.[60] When the time came to perform the track live at the ceremony, as is customary for the Academy Awards, it ran into trouble with ABC's standards and practices department: censors demanded they write TV-friendly lyrics.[61] "It would be ironic to have to change the words in a movie about censorship," remarked Shaiman.[61] Censors were particularly unhappy with the use of the word "fuck" and allusions to the Ku Klux Klan. When Parker and Shaiman declined these requests, Robin Williams, a friend of Shaiman's, sang the song with black tape over his mouth and turning his back when curse words were to be sung.[62] The song ended up losing to "You'll Be in My Heart", a Tarzan song by Phil Collins. In response, Parker and Stone ridiculed him in two consecutive episodes of the series' fourth season ("Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000" and "Timmy 2000").[63] In the DVD commentary for "Timmy 2000", Parker remarks "we were fully expecting to lose, just not to Phil Collins".[64]

List of awards and nominations
Award / Film Festival Date of ceremony Category Recipients Result
Academy Awards March 26, 2000 Best Original Song
for "Blame Canada"		 Nominated
Annie Awards November 6, 1999 Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Theatrical Feature South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production Mary Kay Bergman
Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production
American Film Foundation March 2, 2000 E Pluribus Unum Award for Feature Film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Chicago Film Critics Association March 13, 2000 Best Original Score
  • Trey Parker
  • Marc Shaiman
 Won
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards January 10, 2000 Best Animated Film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association January 19, 2000 Best Music
  • Trey Parker
  • Marc Shaiman
 Won
MTV Movie Awards June 3, 2000 Best Musical Sequence Terrance and Phillip — "Uncle Fucka"
Motion Picture Sound Editors March 25, 2000 Best Sound Editing - Music - Animation
  • Dan DiPrima
  • Tim Boyle
  • Dennis S. Sands
  • Brian Bulman
Best Sound Editing - Animated Feature South Park: Bigger. Longer & Uncut Nominated
New York Film Critics Circle Awards January 9, 2000 Best Animated Film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut Won
OFTA Film Awards 2000 Best Music, Original Score Trey Parker and Marc Shaiman
Best Animated Picture Trey Parker Nominated
Best Music, Adapted Song "Kyle's Mom's a Bitch"
Online Film Critics Society Awards January 2, 2000 Best Original Score Marc Shaiman Won
Golden Satellite Awards January 16, 2000 Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut Nominated
Best Original Song "Quiet Mountain Town"
Village Voice Film Poll 2000 Best Film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut 10th Place

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

Lists and records
  • The film has been nominated by the American Film Institute for their list of the Greatest American Musicals.[68]
  • In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted the film at No. 13 in the greatest comedy films of all time.
  • In 2001, Terry Gilliam selected it as one of the ten best animated films of all time.[69]
  • In 2006, South Park finished fifth on the United Kingdom Channel 4's "50 Greatest Comedy Films" vote.[70]
  • Readers of Empire Magazine, in a 2006 poll, voted it No. 166 in the greatest films of all time.
  • In 2008, the film was included in Entertainment Weekly list of the "25 Movie Sequels We'd Line Up to See"[71] and "The Funniest Movies of the Past 25 Years".[72]
  • The film is No. 5 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies.
  • IGN named it the sixth greatest animated film of all time in their Top 25 list.[73]
  • In Guinness World Records 2001, this film was said to have the most profanity used in an animated film. It contained a total of 399 swear words (the word "fuck" was used 146 times), 199 offensive gestures and also contained 221 acts of violence.[74]

Legacy

Jack Valenti, former president of the MPAA, later said he regretted not giving the film an NC-17 rating.[35] In response to the film's controversy, the MPAA began backing up their ratings on print posters by posting reasons to explain them, beginning in 2000.[75] The film's use of profanity gained it a Guinness World Record in their 2001 edition for "Most Swearing in an Animated Film" (399 profane words, including 146 uses of "fuck";[74] 128 offensive gestures; and 221 acts of violence—in effect, one every six seconds on average).

In the song "Uncle Fucka", the word "fuck" is said 31 times. The pop punk band Blink-182 would often end songs on their The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show Tour with lines from "Uncle Fucka" throughout 2000. The lines can be heard on the band's live album, The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back!).[76]

While the real Saddam Hussein was on trial for genocide charges in 2006, Matt Stone joked that the U.S. military was showing the movie repeatedly to the former dictator as a form of torture.[77] Parker and Stone were given a signed photo of Hussein by American soldiers.[78] In 2011, Time called South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut the sixth greatest animated feature of all-time.[25]

Possible sequel

Parker and Stone said in a 2008 interview that a theatrically released sequel would most likely be what concludes the series.[79]

In 2011, when the official South Park website FAQ was asked whether a sequel would be made, it was responded with "the first South Park movie was so potent, we're all still recovering from the blow. Unfortunately, at the current moment, there are no plans for a second South Park movie. But you never know what the future may bring, crazier things have happened..."[80]

In 2013, Warner Bros. relinquished to Paramount its rights to co-finance a potential future South Park movie, as well as a future Friday the 13th sequel, during their negotiations to co-finance the Christopher Nolan science fiction film Interstellar. Previous efforts to create a second South Park film were complicated by both studios retaining certain rights to the property.[81]

See also

References
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