October 21, 2004

Team America

I was mildly disappointed with Team America, Trey Parker and Matt Stone's satire about American foreign policy, Hollywood's sanctimoniousness, puppetry, and most of all, bad action-adventure movies (Jerry Bruckheimer has more to fear from this movie than George W).

The original songs are the best part of the movie -- three of them made me laugh out loud. So should you just buy the soundtrack? Not really. Unfortunately, you have to see the movie to understand the context of the songs. The lyrics to "Everyone Has AIDS" read like a homophobic rant, when it is really about the self-congratulation of Broadway shows (in this case, Rent, not so wittily called Lease in Team America).

Before the movie was released, there were reports that Team America might influence the presidential election, but the anger isn't focused. At heart, Team America is more Mad Magazine than Michael Moore. If you wait for Team America to be released on DVD or cable, don't consider yourself deprived.