I’ll never forget where I was on June 30, 1999. That night I was listening to Will Smith’s Wild Wild West On the first night, on the screen next to me This is quickly becoming one of my favorite movies. The movie had just come out. Smith’s movie was terrible, but the next night I decided to right that wrong. South Park: Big, Long & Uncut, And from that moment on everything was better.
By 1999 South Park alreadyIt’s a very popular show, but for some reason I didn’t watch it much. I watched a few episodes and enjoyed them, but it just didn’t interest me at all. (I was In independence day and Man in black (That’s why I decided to screen it on opening night.) Still, I was curious to see what the film version would be like, especially with all the censorship barriers removed.
I don’t know if I sat down in the theater and knew this movie was a musical — maybe I did and then forgot — but I remember being immediately pleasantly surprised — by this point, I was already a huge fan of musicals. West Side Story It’s one of my favorite movies and I often sing along to it. Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and The Lion KingAnd yet, I never expected that this movie would not only be a musical, but would become one of the greatest musicals of all time, with hit after hit, every song of which I still remember literally word for word, all these years later.
But while “Mountain Town” may have set the tone that first night, “Uncle Fucka” really got the crowd going. If I close my eyes, I can still hear and feel the theater reverberating with shock and awe as the song plays. No one was prepared for it, but that’s definitely what Trey Parker and Matt Stone had planned. The song is so vulgar, so offensive, and so hilarious that it feels like you’ve been punched in the face and in the stomach at the same time. You quickly realize that the film unfolds on a level you never expected. Then, when you realize that the song, and the narrative film it’s featured in (albeit an R-rated musical version of a TV show), are the catalyst for the rest of the story, things rise to a whole other level.
It all just gets wilder and funnier from there, and despite having seen the movie dozens of times – I watched it this week for its 25th anniversary – I was still overwhelmed with joy and laughing the entire time. I’ll be honest, I felt more conflicted than I expected.
In 1999, Bigger, longer and uncensored It was already very unpleasant. That’s the whole point. But in 2024, moreover The film is sadly prophetic: Parker and Stone knew what censorship and fear of language would do to us, and while the US never declared war on Canada over the issue, as the film does, it certainly sometimes feels like we’re at war with ourselves now for that reason.
So it got me thinking a little deeper. Does my personal tolerance for offensive comedy, or my cognitive ability to distinguish between the words used for hate and humor, come from being so familiar with this film? I think it contributes. And in that sense, I’m grateful for it. I want to be someone who understands that there is a line, and that crossing it is bad. But crossing it carefully, if done well, can also be very funny. As Satan says, “There can be no good without evil; therefore, sometimes it must be good to be evil.”
After watching South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut In 1999 I continued to discover more Parker and Stone musicals. Cannibal Musicalfor one thing. Then I Team America Similarly Book of MormonThe second and third are, South Park, I love them all for pushing the boundaries to make a really important point. South Park The film expanded my understanding of what musicals can be. Musicals are not a genre that can tell just one type of story. They can tell any type of story. South Park, It could be magic.
And even now, 25 years after its release, I South Park: Bigger, Longer and UncutOne thing did change during this rewatch: I was singing along, laughing, smiling, and then when the final reprise started, I started to cry. I was reminded of how much this movie means to me, how long it’s been a part of my life, and what a great movie it is from start to finish. I’m naturally pretty nostalgic, and I didn’t expect that from this movie. But what can I say? “That movie warped my fragile little heart.”
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut It will celebrate its 25th anniversary on June 30. Paramount provided io9 with a copy of the new 4K version to review. Get your copy here.
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