Team America: World Police (2004)
Anybody… know of any terrorist attacks coming up soon?
THE SUMMARY: A counter-terrorist global police force recruits a Broadway actor to help them infiltrate an international terrorist alliance of Kim Jong Il, jihadis, and insufferable Hollywood leftists to save the world by destroying it before they can. It’s a true one-of-a-kind comedy in its puppet styling, outrageous yet subtle writing, and masterful mockery of everyone that doesn’t present as political propaganda of a particular ideology.
FROM MOVIE-PICKERS JAMIE AND JEANNE: From the creators of South Park, this film offers outrageous humor, biting political satire, and unique puppetry aesthetics.
JAMIE AND JEANNE’S SHOW AI ART FOR THE WEEK:
Comin’ again to save the mutha f**kin’ day yeah!
THE BEST:
Sharp savagery of everybody: Having not seen this movie since college over a decade ago, and having my political views change significantly in that time frame, I was worried that what I remember as a great comedy would age into cringey leftist propaganda now. It doesn’t. Yes, the movie mocks uncritical American patriotism and ‘world policing,’ but it doesn’t do it with the promotion of the alternative. Feds, Hollywood leftists, Muslim jihadis, Kim Jong Il and more are all mocked just as aggressively. Team America doesn’t present as a movie trying to push an agenda. It presents as ridicule of all, exactly where deserved.
Many of the moments that had me laughing the hardest were at the expense of the leftists. When Kim Jong Il needs Alec Baldwin’s help, he shouts, ‘do something Alec Baldwin!’ Alec responds, ‘the, the… global warming, and… corporate America, and…’ Then Baldwin is shot dead, as though the writers knew it would be ironic 20 years later. During the celebrity fight, Tim Robbins tries to end it with pointed AKs saying ‘peace always finds a way’ - of course their ideas are always best achieved at gunpoint, even peace. Somehow Matt Damon simply saying his name became an on-point meme.
To appreciate this movie is to laugh at your enemies and yourself alike, which is hard to achieve, but this movie does.
The subtle dry humor also lands: It’s not just the political mockery that makes the movie great - it’s the excellent dry, subtle, completely apolitical lines as well. You haven’t seen everything if you haven’t seen a man eat his own head, for example. I guess it’s not subtle, but it’s not political either - the lines about shitting on your own balls and peeing in all different directions also got me. But by far the best dry humor is the recurring bit about the 9/11 math. 9/11 times 100? Jesus. That’s 91,100. 9/11 times 1,000? 911,000. 9/11 times 2,356? Nobody knows!
As always, the best way to handle a groan-worthy dry joke is to run it into the ground. Well done.
A serious critique of interventionist foreign policy and proactive policing: While the movie mocks all, and does it well, of course its core criticism is US interventionist foreign policy, and by extension, a proactive policing philosophy that seeks to prevent crime, rather than secure justice for crimes already committed. While it’s great to stop a crime before it happens, without serious restraint, it’s an effort that inevitably results in crimes committed in the policing itself. Censorship, unreasonable searches and seizures, and yes, even blowing up the Eiffel tower - these are all additional crimes themselves, not crimes prevented, and the risk is just as great whether you’re policing a neighborhood or the entire world.
The music is exceptionally good: More often than not, musical numbers don’t land for me, either as jokes or in dramatic performances. This movie is an exception. Every single one is a banger. The AIDS Rent parody. The montage song. And of course, the legendary classics I’m So Ronery and America, Fuck Yeah!, as well as its sad rendition. Every song is clever, catchy, and most importantly in a comedy, hilarious.
The ‘dick, pussy, asshole’ metaphor is actually pretty solid: The ‘dick, pussy, asshole’ metaphor for the world’s three personality types sounds outrageous, but it’s fairly philosophically sound. Pussies have no answer for assholes, but dicks absolutely need restraint. As always, the solution is the union of man and woman. They compliment each other in crucial ways necessary to overcome the world’s evil and produce the next generation.
Alec Baldwin describes the F.A.G. way
Team America ‘saves’ Paris
Gary infiltrates the jihadis
AIDS! AIDS! AIDS!
THE WORST:
The puppet sex scene: I wouldn’t say I hate this scene, because the shock is undeniable and that’s what it’s supposed to achieve, but it’s a form of cringe comedy that’s not as clever as the rest of the movie. Even though it’s only a minute or two long, it feels like an hour because it’s so painfully awkward, but I guess that’s the joke. The producers are laughing at us as much as we’re laughing at the gag.
Still, if some discomfort with puppet sex is the worst I can say about this movie, that’s a good indicator that I loved it. Almost as much as Gary loves Lisa. Or maybe almost as much as Gary loves Spottswoode. Or America. Or whatever Gary loves enough to perform that service.
Shocking and outrageous yes, but doesn’t actually add much to the comedy.
THE RATING: 5/5 Wickies. Since comedies don’t often provide the philosophical dilemmas I usually grade highly, they have to be memorable and laugh-out-loud funny. With a combination of a unique puppet aesthetic and great writing, Team America is exceptionally funny and even if you disagree, you won’t forget it for its style.
YOUR RATING: Vote here ⬇
NEXT WEEK: Jaws (1975)
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