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Team America: World Police

Team America: World Police is a 2004 adult puppet comedy film directed by Trey Parker, from a screenplay by Parker, Matt Stone, and Pam Brady. Parker and Stone also star alongside Kristen Miller, Masasa Moyo, Daran Norris, Phil Hendrie, Maurice LaMarche, Chelsea Marguerite, Jeremy Shada and Fred Tatasciore. A satire of action film archetypes, American militarism, and the global implications of the politics of the United States, the film follows the titular paramilitary police force, who recruit a Broadway actor to assist in saving the world from Kim Jong Il and his conspiracy of Islamic terrorists and liberal Hollywood actors.

Team America: World Police
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTrey Parker
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyBill Pope
Edited byThomas M. Vogt
Music byHarry Gregson-Williams
Production
companies
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
  • October 14, 2004 (2004-10-14) (Denver)
  • October 15, 2004 (2004-10-15) (United States)
Running time
98 minutes[1][2]
Countries
LanguageEnglish
Budget$32 million[4]
Box office$51 million[4]

Team America: World Police intertwines puppetry and miniature effects in a manner similar to Supermarionation, known for its use in the television series Thunderbirds, although Stone and Parker were not fans of that show. The duo worked on the script with former South Park writer Brady for nearly two years. The film had a troubled production, with various technical problems regarding the puppets and the scheduling extremes of finishing in time for its theatrical release. It also came into routine conflict with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which returned the film multiple times with an NC-17 rating due to an explicit sex scene involving puppets.

Team America: World Police premiered at the Denver Film Festival on October 14, 2004, and was theatrically released in the United States the following day. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was a modest success at the box office, grossing over $51 million worldwide on a $32 million budget.[4]

Plot Edit

Team America, a paramilitary counterterrorist police force, eliminates a gang of terrorists in Paris, accidentally destroying the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and the Louvre in the process. The team includes Lisa, an idealistic psychologist; her love interest Carson; Sarah, a psychic; Joe, a jock who is in love with Sarah; and Chris, a martial arts expert who harbors a phobia towards actors. Carson proposes to Lisa, but a terrorist shoots him dead as he is doing it.

Team America leader Spottswoode brings Broadway actor Gary Johnston to Team America's base in Mount Rushmore and asks him to use his acting skills to infiltrate a terrorist cell. Unbeknownst to the team, North Korean dictator and terrorist mastermind Kim Jong Il is supplying international terrorists with weapons of mass destruction. Gary infiltrates a terrorist group in Cairo. The team is discovered and a chase ensues, with the team killing the terrorists. However, the city is left in ruins, drawing criticism from the Film Actors Guild ("F.A.G."), a union of liberal Hollywood actors led by Alec Baldwin.

At the base, Gary tells Lisa that as a child his acting talent caused his brother to be savagely killed by gorillas. While the two grow close and have sex, terrorists blow up the Panama Canal in retaliation for the Cairo operation, killing thousands. The Film Actors Guild blame this on Team America, as well as Kim chastising the terrorists for detonating one bomb too early. Gary, feeling his acting talents have again resulted in innocent people dying, resigns from Team America. The remaining members depart for the Middle East, but are defeated and captured by North Korean forces while Michael Moore blows up Team America's base in a suicide attack. In North Korea, Kim invites the Film Actors Guild and world leaders to a peace ceremony, planning to detonate several bombs around the world while they are distracted.

Succumbing to depression, Gary is reminded of his responsibility by a rambling speech from a drunken tramp. Returning to the team's base, he finds Spottswoode has survived Moore's bombing. After regaining Spottswoode's trust by giving him a blowjob and undergoing one-day training, Gary goes to North Korea, where he uses his acting skills to infiltrate the base and free the team, although Lisa is held hostage by Kim. The team is confronted by the Film Actors Guild and kill most of the actors in their ensuing fight. After Gary uses his acting skills to save Chris from Susan Sarandon, Chris confesses to Gary that the reason he dislikes actors is because he was gang-raped by the cast of the musical Cats when he was 19 years old.

The team crashes the peace ceremony and Gary goes on stage, delivering a recontextualized version of the tramp's speech—arguing that "dicks", though criticized by "pussies", are necessary to stop "assholes"—that convinces the world's leaders to unite. Kim betrays and kills Baldwin for being unable to counter Gary's argument, but he is kicked over a balcony by Lisa and impaled on the German delegate's Pickelhaube. Kim reveals his true form as an extraterrestrial cockroach and flees in a spaceship, vowing to return. Gary and Lisa happily begin a relationship and the team reunites, preparing to fight the world's terrorists once again.

Cast Edit

The film also features a man dressed as a giant statue of Kim Il Sung, two black cats who pose as panthers, two nurse sharks, and a cockroach, with the difference in size with the marionettes played for humorous effect. A poster of the Barbi Twins was featured on the billboard in Times Square, making the Twins the only non-marionette humans in the film.

Production Edit

 
Creators Trey Parker (left) and Matt Stone (right) were exhausted with production on Team America and its scheduling extremes.

Development Edit

The film's origins involve Parker and Stone watching Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Thunderbirds on television while bored. Parker found that the series was unable to hold his interest as a child because "the dialogue was so expository and slow, and it took itself really seriously".[5] The duo inquired about the rights to the series and found out that Universal Studios was doing a Thunderbirds film directed by Jonathan Frakes. "We said, 'What? Jonathan Frakes is directing puppets?' and then we found out it was a live-action version, and we were disappointed," said Parker.[6]

News broke of the duo signing on to create the film on October 17, 2002, with Stone revealing that it would be a homage to Anderson.[7] The news was confirmed in June 2003, with Variety quoting Stone as saying "What we wanted was to do a send-up of these super important huge action movies that Jerry Bruckheimer makes."[8]

Before production began, Team America was championed at Paramount Pictures by Scott Rudin, who had been the executive producer for Parker and Stone's previous film, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. After the "hassle" of producing the South Park film, Parker and Stone had vowed never to create another movie.[6] Other studio executives were initially unenthusiastic about the project: the studio was in favor of the film's lack of political correctness, but were confused by the use of puppets. The executives explained that they could not make profit from an R-rated puppet feature, and Parker countered that similar things had been said about the South Park film, an R-rated animated musical which had become a box-office hit.[9] Tom Freston, who was co-president of Viacom, Paramount's parent company, also supported the film, feeling that Paramount should make more lower-budget films that appeal to children and young adults after the studio's failures with adult-oriented films such as The Stepford Wives.[10] According to Parker and Stone, executives were finally won over after they saw the dailies from the film's production.[5]

Writing Edit

Parker, Stone, and longtime writing partner Pam Brady spent nearly two years perfecting the Team America script. For influences, they studied scores of popular action and disaster films, such as Alien, Top Gun, and S.W.A.T.[11] The duo watched Pearl Harbor to get the nuances of the puppets just right when they were staring at each other, and also used Ben Affleck as a model.[9] To help shape the film's archetypal heroes (from the true believer to the reluctant hero to the guy who sells out his friends for greater glory), they read the books of Joseph Campbell. "On one level, it's a big send-up," Brady said. "But on another, it's about foreign policy".[11] The first draft of the script was turned in well before the Iraq War.[9] The film takes aim at various celebrities, many of whom came out in opposition to the Iraq War in 2003. Brady explained that the film's treatment of celebrities was derived from her annoyance at the screen time given to celebrities in the beginning of the Iraq War, in lieu of foreign policy experts.[11]

Filming Edit

The film's central concept was easier to conceive than to execute.[11] Team America was produced using a crew of about 200 people, which sometimes required four people at a time to manipulate a marionette. The duo were forced to constantly rewrite the film during production due to the limited nature of the puppets. The 270 puppet characters were created by the Chiodo Brothers, who previously designed puppets for films such as Elf and Dinosaur. The costumers of the crew were responsible for making sure the over 1,000 costumes remained in cohesive order and were realistic.

Production began on May 23, 2004.[6] The project was interrupted multiple times early on in production.[9] As soon as filming began, Parker and Stone labored to find the right comic tone; the original script for the film contained many more jokes. After shooting the very first scene, the two realized the jokes were not working, and that the humor instead came from the marionettes.[12] "Puppets doing jokes is not funny," Stone found. "But when you see puppets doing melodrama, spitting up blood and talking about how they were raped as children, that's funny."[11] Filming was done by three units shooting different parts at the same time. Occasionally, the producers had up to five cameras set up to capture the scene.[5] The film was mainly based on the 1982 cult classic action film Megaforce, of which Parker and Stone had been fans. Many ideas had been copied such as the flying motorcycle sequence.

The film was painstakingly made realistic, which led to various shots being re-done throughout the process due to Parker and Stone's obsession with detail and craftsmanship. For example, a tiny Uzi cost $1,000 to construct, and Kim Jong Il's eyeglasses were made with hand-ground prescription lenses.[11] Although the filmmakers hired three dozen marionette operators, simple performances from the marionettes were nearly impossible; a simple shot such as a character drinking might take a half-day to complete successfully.[11] Parker and Stone agreed during production of Team America that it was "the hardest thing [they'd] ever done."

Rather than rely on computer-generated special effects added in post-production, the filmmakers vied to capture every stunt live on film.[11] Parker likened each shot to a complicated math problem.[13] The late September 2004 deadline for the film's completion[5][11] took a toll on both filmmakers, as did various difficulties in working with puppets, with Stone, who described the film as "the worst time of [my] life," resorting to coffee to work 20-hour days, and sleeping pills to go to bed.[14] The film was barely completed in time for its October 15 release date. At a press junket in Los Angeles on October 5, journalists were only shown a 20-minute reel of highlights because there was no finished print.[15] Many of the film's producers had not seen the entire film with the sound mix until the premiere.[12]

Editing Edit

"It's a back-and-forth with the board. They said it can't be as many positions, so we cut out a couple of them. We love the golden shower, but I guess they said no to that. But I just love that they have to watch it. Seriously, can you imagine getting a videotape with just a close-up of a puppet asshole, and you have to watch it?"

Trey Parker on the clashes between him and Stone and the MPAA[13]

Even before the scene's submission to the Motion Picture Association of America, Parker planned to "have fun" pushing the limits by throwing in the graphic sex scene.[6] The duo knew the racy film would be met with some opposition, but were outraged when the film came back with their harshest rating, NC-17. The original cut's minute-and-a-half sex scene with Gary and Lisa was cut down to 50 seconds. The original scene also featured the two puppets urinating and defecating on one another,[13] which was based on what children do humorously with dolls such as Barbie and Ken. At least nine edits of the puppet love scene were shown to the MPAA before the board accepted that it had been toned down enough to qualify for an R rating.[16] Parker contrasted the MPAA's reluctance for the sex scene to their acceptance of the violence: "Meanwhile, we're taking other puppets and, you know, blowing their heads off, they're covered with blood and stuff, and the MPAA didn't have a word to say about that."[17] In addition to the sex scene, the MPAA also objected to the scene in which the Hans Blix puppet is eaten by sharks.[18] Stone and Parker had faced a similar conflict with their previous film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut in 1999.[19]

Music Edit

The film's score was composed and conducted by Harry Gregson-Williams. The soundtrack also contains "Magic Carpet Ride" performed by Steppenwolf, "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" performed by Tomoyasu Hotei, "Forbidden Bitter-Melon Dance" performed by Jeff Faustman, "Bu Dünyada Aşkından Ölmek" performed by Kubat, and songs by Trey Parker including "Everyone Has AIDS", "Freedom Isn't Free", "America, Fuck Yeah", "America, Fuck Yeah (Bummer Remix)", "Derka Derk (Terrorist Theme)", "Only a Woman", "I'm So Ronery", "The End of an Act", "Montage" , "You Are Worthless Alec Baldwin" and "North Korean Melody".

Individuals parodied in the film Edit

Famous people depicted as puppets, and lampooned, in the film include Michael Moore, Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Helen Hunt, George Clooney, Liv Tyler, Martin Sheen, Susan Sarandon, Janeane Garofalo, Matt Damon, Samuel L. Jackson, Danny Glover, Ethan Hawke, Kim Jong Il, Muammar Gaddafi, Tony Blair, Queen Elizabeth II, Qaboos bin Said, Fidel Castro, Peter Jennings and Hans Blix. Almost all of them are killed in gory and violent ways.

 
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il was parodied in the film, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea asked the Czech Republic to ban it.[20]

Reactions from those parodied were mixed; Baldwin found the project "so funny",[21] and expressed interest in lending his voice to his character.[22] In a 2008 video interview with Time, Baldwin related how his daughter Ireland's classmates would recite Kim Jong Il's line to him, "You are worthress, Arec Barrwin." [sic][21] Sean Penn, who is portrayed making outlandish claims about how happy and utopian Iraq was before Team America showed up, sent Parker and Stone an angry letter inviting them to tour Iraq with him, ending with the words "fuck you".[23]

Both George Clooney and Matt Damon are said to be friends with Stone and Parker, and Clooney has stated that he would have been insulted had he not been included in the film.[24] Damon is portrayed as a simpleton who can only say his own name. When asked about the film in 2016, Damon stated that he was confused by the portrayal, given that he was already known as both "a screenwriter and an actor":

[…] I was always bewildered by that, and I never talked to Trey and Matt about that. And incidentally, I believe those two are geniuses, and I don't use that word lightly. I think they are absolute geniuses, and what they've done is awesome and I'm a big fan of theirs, but I never quite understood that one.[25]

Stone and Parker had earlier stated in an interview that they were inspired to give the Damon character that personality only after seeing the puppet that was made for him, which "looked kind of mentally deficient".[26]

Kim Jong Il, a noted film buff,[27] never commented publicly about his depiction in Team America: World Police, although shortly after its release North Korea asked the Czech Republic to ban the film; the country refused, saying that North Koreans had been rebuffed in their effort to undermine the Czech Republic's post-Communist-era freedom.[20] The filmmakers acknowledged this in a DVD extra and jokingly suggested he sings "I'm So Ronery". Michael Moore is depicted as a fat, hot dog-eating glutton who partakes in suicide bombing and is referred to as a "giant socialist weasel" by I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E. Stone explained the reason for this portrayal in an MSNBC interview:

We have a very specific beef with Michael Moore, […] I did an interview, and he didn't mischaracterize me or anything I said [in Bowling for Columbine]. But what he did do was put this cartoon [titled "A Brief History of the United States of America", written by Moore, animated and directed by Harold Moss] right after me that made it look like we did that cartoon.[28]

A deleted scene also shows Meryl Streep and Ben Affleck (who is portrayed with a real-life hand replacing his head).

Release Edit

The world premiere of Team America: World Police took place on October 11, 2004 in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The United States premiere was on October 14, 2004 at the Denver Film Festival. Paramount Pictures released the film in the United States on October 15, 2004.

Home media Edit

The film was released on DVD and VHS in the United States on May 17, 2005 by Paramount Home Entertainment, available in both R-rated and unrated versions. The film was released on Blu-ray Disc on August 1, 2017 in the United States.[29]

A 2-Disc Blu-ray edition was released on July 25, 2023 by Shout! Factory.[30]

Reception Edit

Critical response Edit

On Rotten Tomatoes, Team America: World Police has a 77% based on 198 reviews and an average score of 7.00/10. The site's consensus states, "Team America will either offend you or leave you in stitches. It'll probably do both."[31] On Metacritic the film has a score of 64 out of 100 based on reviews from 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[32] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a "B" grade on an A+-to-F scale.[33]

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised the film as "A ruthlessly clever musical, a punchy political parody and the hottest look ever at naked puppets."[34] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Team America: World Police is to political commentary what lap dancing is to ballet. There is no room for subtlety. Aiming a rude, foul-mouthed political satire everywhere -- left, right and center -- Trey Parker and Matt Stone blow up a good deal of the world, not to mention the egos of many Hollywood personalities."[35] Brian Lowry of Variety was positive about the satire, saying the film "goes the extra mile to piss off everybody — which includes gleefully destroying renowned Hollywood liberals, literally and figuratively" but less positive about other aspects of the film: "All told, the clever visual bits and hilarious songs don't entirely compensate for the many flat or beyond-over-the-top spells." Lowry praised the songs saying they "deliver the movie's biggest highlights" and he also praised the production design calling it a "true technical achievement, recreating a dizzying array of sets and costumes at one-third scale and clearly having plenty of fun doing so — down to using housecats as stand-ins for terrifying panthers."[36] Richard Corliss of Time also highlighted the production "The real kick, however, is in the grandeur and detail of the production design, by Jim Dultz and David Rockwell."[37]

Kim Newman of Empire called it "a patchy comedy that's stronger as a genre-mocker than a political satire."[38] Roger Ebert gave the film 1 out of 4 stars and wrote: "I wasn't offended by the movie's content so much as by its nihilism", and was critical of the film's "sneer at both sides" approach, comparing it to "a cocky teenager who's had a couple of drinks before the party, they don't have a plan for who they want to offend, only an intention to be as offensive as possible."[39]

Contemporary and retrospective comment on the film has observed that it takes aim at militarism in the United States, and Hollywood liberals' response. David Edelstein, in a review for Slate, called the film "a stink bomb lobbed at American arrogance and overweening militarism."[40] In The Village Voice, Michael Atkinson wrote "Madly Rorschachian, TAWP appears to rub its shitty boots on U.S. militarism as well as Hollywood liberals".[41]

National Review Online named the film #24 in its list of "The Best Conservative Movies". Brian C. Anderson wrote, "the film's utter disgust with air-headed, left-wing celebrity activism remains unmatched in popular culture."[42] Political and social commentator Andrew Sullivan considers the film brilliant in its skewering of both the left and right's approach on terrorism.[citation needed] Sullivan (a fan of Stone and Parker's other work, as well) popularized the term "South Park Republican" to describe himself and other like-minded fiscal conservatives/social libertarians. Parker himself is a registered Libertarian.[43] Before the film's release, it was criticized by Matt Drudge and conservative group Move America Forward for mocking the War on terror.[10]

Before Team America was released, statements were released by a "senior Bush administration official" condemning the film. Upon receiving the news, the duo called and found it was instead a "junior staffer," causing Stone to quip "What is it – junior or senior? What are we talking about here? Who knows? It might have been the janitor." The two eventually decided it was free publicity, with which they were fine.[5] Some media outlets interpreted the film's release on October 15 to be in theaters before the November elections. Parker said the release date had nothing to do with the elections, and the date was pushed back as far as possible due to production delays, but they had to return to South Park by October 20.[5] Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson was supposed to have met Parker before production, but they cancelled the meeting, acknowledging he would not like the film's expletives. Anderson saw the completed film and felt "there are good, fun parts [in the film] but the language wasn't to my liking."[44]

Box office Edit

Team America earned $12,120,358 in its opening U.S. weekend, ranking number three behind Shark Tale and Friday Night Lights. The film eventually grossed a total of $50,946,640, with $32,886,074 in U.S. domestic receipts and $18,160,566 in international proceeds.[4]

Filmmakers' response Edit

In an interview with Matt Stone following the film's release,[45] Anwar Brett of the BBC asked, "For all the targets you choose to take pot-shots at, George W. Bush isn't one of them. How come?" Stone replied, "If you want to see Bush-bashing in America you only have to walk about 10 feet to find it. Trey and I are always attracted to what other people aren't doing. Frankly that wasn't the movie we wanted to make." In another interview, Parker and Stone further clarified the meaning of the film's ending, which tries to justify the role of the United States as the "world police":[46]

Because that's the thing that we realized when we were making the movie. It was always the hardest thing. We wanted to deal with this emotion of being hated as an American. That was the thing that was intriguing to us, and having Gary the main character deal with that emotion. And so, him becoming ashamed to be a part of Team America and being ashamed of himself, he comes to realize that, just as he got his brother killed by gorillas—he didn't kill his brother; he was a dick, he wasn't an asshole—so too does America have this role in the world as a dick. Cops are dicks, you fucking hate cops, but you need 'em.

Awards Edit

In a worldwide survey of comedians by The Guardian, the film was included on a list of the fifty funniest films.[47] In 2010, The Guardian listed the film as the 4th greatest comedy film of all time.[48] In 2019, The Guardian ranked the film tenth on its list of 100 best films of the 21st century.[49] Director Quentin Tarantino counted Team America: World Police in his list of top 20 films released since 1992 (when his filmmaking career began), and director Edgar Wright named it as one of his 1,000 favorite films.[50][51]

Award Category Nominee Result
Empire Award Best Comedy Team America: World Police Won
Golden Schmoes Best Comedy of the Year
Best Music in a Movie
Most Memorable Scene in a Movie
Team America: World Police Nominated
Golden Trailer Best Comedy Team America: World Police Nominated
IFMCA Award Best Original Score for a Comedy Film Harry Gregson-Williams Nominated
Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing in Feature Film – Animated Bruce Howell (supervising sound editor)
Beth Sterner (supervising sound editor)
Thomas W. Small (supervising foley editor)
Lydia Quidilla (supervising dialogue editor)
Robert Ulrich (supervising adr editor)
Chuck Michael (sound effects editor)
Peter Zinda (sound effects editor)
Jon Title (sound effects editor)
Michael Kamper (sound effects editor)
Doug Jackson (sound effects editor)
Cary Butler (sound effects editor/dialogue editor)
Fred Burke (foley editor)
Scott Curtis (foley editor)
Nic Ratner (music editor)
Nominated
MTV Movie Award Best Action Sequence Team America: World Police Nominated
OFCS Award Best Animated Feature Team America: World Police Nominated
People's Choice Award Favorite Animated Movie Team America: World Police Nominated
Golden Satellite Award Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media Team America: World Police Nominated
Teen Choice Award Choice Movie: Animated/Computer Generated Team America: World Police Nominated

Soundtrack Edit

The film's soundtrack was released on October 19, 2004, and on CD on January 10, 2005, by Atlantic Records.

All songs are written and performed by Trey Parker, except where indicated.

No.TitleWriter(s)ArtistLength
1."Everyone Has AIDS"
 1:15
2."Freedom Isn't Free"  2:36
3."America, Fuck Yeah"  2:07
4."Derka Derk (Terrorist Theme)"  0:47
5."Only a Woman"  2:56
6."I'm So Ronery"  1:55
7."America, Fuck Yeah (Bummer Remix)"  0:55
8."The End of an Act"  2:20
9."Montage"  2:03
10."North Korea Melody"  1:45
11."The Team America March"Harry Gregson-Williams5:31
12."Lisa & Gary"
  • Gregson-Williams
  • Smith
Gregson-Williams6:14
13."F.A.G."
Gregson-Williams2:34
14."Putting a Jihad on You"
  • Gregson-Williams
  • Jablonsky
Gregson-Williams3:44
15."Kim Jong-il"
  • Gregson-Williams
  • Jablonsky
  • Smith
Gregson-Williams5:58
16."Mount, Rush, More"
  • Barton
  • Gregson-Williams
Gregson-Williams4:21
Total length:47:00

Featured songs not included in the soundtrack:

Name Artist
"Magic Carpet Ride" Steppenwolf
"Battle Without Honor or Humanity" Tomoyasu Hotei
"Forbidden Bitter-Melon Dance" Jeff Faustman
"Bu Dünyada Aşkından Ölmek" Kubat

Legacy Edit

In the aftermath of the December 2014 terrorism threats by Guardians of Peace on showings of the film The Interview, which resulted in Sony Pictures pulling the film from release,[52] several theatres, including Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, Texas, protested the loss by scheduling free showings of Team America: World Police.[53] However, Paramount pulled distribution of Team America from theaters, including those in Cleveland, Atlanta, and New Orleans.[54][55][56] This action was seen by President Barack Obama as an attack on freedom of speech by Hollywood studios,[57] and others as an act of pure cowardice.[58] Snippets of the film mocking Kim Jong Il were reportedly set to be included, alongside copies of The Interview, in helium-filled balloons launched by North Korean defectors into their home country in an effort to inspire education on the Western world's views on it.[59]

See also Edit

References Edit

  1. ^ a b "Catalog – Team America: World Police". American Film Institute. Retrieved December 18, 2019. Duration (in mins): 98 […] Countries: Germany, United States
  2. ^ "Team America – World Police". British Board of Film Classification. November 3, 2004. Retrieved June 19, 2013. Approved Running time 97m 49s
  3. ^ . British Film Institute. Archived from the original on August 11, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2016. Countries: Germany, USA
  4. ^ a b c d "Team America: World Police". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d e f . In Focus. October 4, 2004. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  6. ^ a b c d . Zap2It. August 23, 2004. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  7. ^ Friedman, Roger (October 17, 2002). "South Park Creators Pull the Strings". Fox News Channel. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  8. ^ Sauriol, Patrick (June 25, 2003). . Mania.com (source: Variety). Archived from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  9. ^ a b c d . Mediasharx. October 13, 2005. Archived from the original on March 2, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  10. ^ a b Bowles, Scott (October 11, 2004). "Parker, Stone pull Team strings, yank a few chains". USA Today. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Horn, John (September 12, 2004). "Launching a small-scale offensive". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  12. ^ a b Havrilesky, Heather (October 12, 2004). "Puppet masters". Salon. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  13. ^ a b c . Rolling Stone. October 6, 2004. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  14. ^ "Stone says Team America was 'lowest point'". The Guardian. December 31, 2004. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  15. ^ Friedman, Roger (October 5, 2004). "Team America: Sex, Puppets & Controversy". Fox News Channel. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  16. ^ . E!. October 8, 2004. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  17. ^ . Columbia Chronicle. October 11, 2004. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  18. ^ "South Park Stars Upset Over Puppet Sex Censorship". ContactMusic. October 7, 2004. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  19. ^ Weinraub, Bernard (June 29, 1999). "Loosening a Strict Film Rating for South Park". The New York Times. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  20. ^ a b . Worldtribune.com. Archived from the original on January 18, 2012. Retrieved November 20, 2010.
  21. ^ a b "Alec Baldwin on Tracy Morgan and Kim Jong-Il". Live 10 Questions Event. TIME Magazine Official YouTube Channel. Archived from the original on December 22, 2021. Retrieved June 17, 2011.
  22. ^ "Team America speaks!". MovieWeb. October 12, 2004. Archived from the original on September 6, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
  23. ^ "Letter by Sean Penn". DrudgeReport Archives. October 8, 2004. Retrieved September 14, 2009.
  24. ^ "Clooney Supports Team America Duo". January 31, 2006. […] the Hollywood big-hitters all insist they would have been offended to be left out of the film.
  25. ^ I am Matt Damon, Ask Me Anything!, Reddit, July 19, 2016
  26. ^ Shepherd, Jack (July 21, 2016). "Matt Damon reveals why he's cool with Team America". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 26, 2022.
  27. ^ "North Korean leader loves Hennessey, Bond movies", CNN, January 8, 2003
  28. ^ "Team America takes on moviegoers". Today.com. October 15, 2004.
  29. ^ . Blu-ray.com. Archived from the original on August 17, 2012. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
  30. ^ "Team America: World Police [Uncensored And Unrated]". Shout! Factory. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  31. ^ "Team America: World Police (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  32. ^ "Team America: World Police". Metacritic. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  33. ^ . CinemaScore. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018.
  34. ^ Travers, Peter (October 14, 2004). "Team America: World Police". Rolling Stone.
  35. ^ "'Team America: World Police': THR's 2004 Review". The Hollywood Reporter. October 15, 2019.
  36. ^ Lowry, Brian (October 10, 2004). "Team America: World Police". Variety.
  37. ^ . June 18, 2008. Archived from the original on June 18, 2008. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
  38. ^ Kim Newman (January 1, 2000). "Team America: World Police". Empire (film magazine).
  39. ^ Ebert, Roger (October 14, 2004). "Team America: World Police movie review (2004)". Chicago Sun-Times.
  40. ^ Edelstein, David (October 14, 2004). "Team America: puppets vs. the world". Slate.
  41. ^ Atkinson, Michael (October 19, 2004). "Attack of the Puppet People". The Village Voice.
  42. ^ Miller, John (February 23, 2009). "The Best Conservative Movies". National Review.
  43. ^ Winter, Bill. . Advocates for Self-Government. Archived from the original on January 13, 2008. Retrieved December 13, 2008. When asked to describe his politics, Parker said he was "a registered Libertarian."
  44. ^ Hassan, Genevieve (October 7, 2008). "Talking Shop: Gerry Anderson". BBC News. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
  45. ^ "Interview with Matt Stone". BBC.
  46. ^ . Salon. Archived from the original on December 24, 2007.
  47. ^ Guardian Staff (December 18, 2016). "The 50 funniest films… chosen by comedians". the Guardian. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
  48. ^ "Team America: World Police: No 4 best comedy film of all time". the Guardian. October 18, 2010. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  49. ^ "The 100 best films of the 21st century". The Guardian. September 13, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  50. ^ Brown, Lane (August 17, 2009). "Team America, Anything Else Among the Best Movies of the Past Seventeen Years, Claims Quentin Tarantino". Vulture. New York Media LLC. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  51. ^ Sam DiSalle. "Edgar Wright's 1000 Favorite Movies". Mubi. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  52. ^ Humphries, Rusty (December 17, 2014). "Sony needs 'Team America: World Police'". Washington Times.
  53. ^ Burlingame, Russ (December 18, 2014). "The Interview To Be Replaced By Team America: World Police At Alamo Drafthouse". ComicBook.com.
  54. ^ Lieberman, David (December 18, 2014). "Paramount Cancels Team America Showings, Theaters Say". Deadline Hollywood.
  55. ^ "Paramount pulls screenings of 'Team America: World Police,' theaters say." Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  56. ^ "Team America: World Police screenings canceled in wake of controversy over The Interview." The Times-Picayune (NOLA.com). Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  57. ^ Weigel, David (December 18, 2014). "First 'The Interview,' Now Theaters Cancel Protest Screenings of 'Team America'". Bloomberg Politics.
  58. ^ "Cave! 'Team America' Screenings To Replace 'The Interview' Pulled By Paramount". The Inquisitor. December 18, 2014.
  59. ^ Bond, Paul (April 20, 2015). "'The Interview' Sequel: Inside the Frightening Battle Raging on the North Korean Border". The Hollywood Reporter.
  • Moriarty Visits Matt & Trey On The Team America Set! – set report from AintItCool.com
  • Team America: World Police – synopsis, clips and images from LatinoReview.com
  • (October 2004). Play: South Park's Puppet Regime. Wired 12.10. Retrieved October 6, 2004.
  • BBC Interview with Matt Stone
  • Team America – Guy In Bar Philosophy by composer M.Regtien

Further reading Edit

  • Dubowsky, Jack Curtis (2017). "Team America: World Police: Duplicitous Voices of the Socio-political Spy Musical". In Donnelly, Kevin J.; Carroll, Beth (eds.). Contemporary Musical Film. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 40–57. ISBN 978-1-4744-1313-8.

External links Edit

team, america, world, police, 2004, adult, puppet, comedy, film, directed, trey, parker, from, screenplay, parker, matt, stone, brady, parker, stone, also, star, alongside, kristen, miller, masasa, moyo, daran, norris, phil, hendrie, maurice, lamarche, chelsea. Team America World Police is a 2004 adult puppet comedy film directed by Trey Parker from a screenplay by Parker Matt Stone and Pam Brady Parker and Stone also star alongside Kristen Miller Masasa Moyo Daran Norris Phil Hendrie Maurice LaMarche Chelsea Marguerite Jeremy Shada and Fred Tatasciore A satire of action film archetypes American militarism and the global implications of the politics of the United States the film follows the titular paramilitary police force who recruit a Broadway actor to assist in saving the world from Kim Jong Il and his conspiracy of Islamic terrorists and liberal Hollywood actors Team America World PoliceTheatrical release posterDirected byTrey ParkerWritten byTrey Parker Matt Stone Pam BradyProduced byScott Rudin Trey Parker Matt StoneStarringTrey Parker Matt Stone Kristen Miller Masasa Moyo Daran Norris Phil Hendrie Maurice LaMarche Chelsea Marguerite Jeremy Shada Fred TatascioreCinematographyBill PopeEdited byThomas M VogtMusic byHarry Gregson WilliamsProductioncompaniesScott Rudin Productions Braniff ProductionsDistributed byParamount PicturesRelease datesOctober 14 2004 2004 10 14 Denver October 15 2004 2004 10 15 United States Running time98 minutes 1 2 CountriesGermany United States 1 3 LanguageEnglishBudget 32 million 4 Box office 51 million 4 Team America World Police intertwines puppetry and miniature effects in a manner similar to Supermarionation known for its use in the television series Thunderbirds although Stone and Parker were not fans of that show The duo worked on the script with former South Park writer Brady for nearly two years The film had a troubled production with various technical problems regarding the puppets and the scheduling extremes of finishing in time for its theatrical release It also came into routine conflict with the Motion Picture Association of America MPAA which returned the film multiple times with an NC 17 rating due to an explicit sex scene involving puppets Team America World Police premiered at the Denver Film Festival on October 14 2004 and was theatrically released in the United States the following day The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was a modest success at the box office grossing over 51 million worldwide on a 32 million budget 4 Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3 1 Development 3 2 Writing 3 3 Filming 3 4 Editing 3 5 Music 4 Individuals parodied in the film 5 Release 5 1 Home media 6 Reception 6 1 Critical response 6 2 Box office 6 3 Filmmakers response 6 4 Awards 7 Soundtrack 8 Legacy 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External linksPlot EditTeam America a paramilitary counterterrorist police force eliminates a gang of terrorists in Paris accidentally destroying the Eiffel Tower Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre in the process The team includes Lisa an idealistic psychologist her love interest Carson Sarah a psychic Joe a jock who is in love with Sarah and Chris a martial arts expert who harbors a phobia towards actors Carson proposes to Lisa but a terrorist shoots him dead as he is doing it Team America leader Spottswoode brings Broadway actor Gary Johnston to Team America s base in Mount Rushmore and asks him to use his acting skills to infiltrate a terrorist cell Unbeknownst to the team North Korean dictator and terrorist mastermind Kim Jong Il is supplying international terrorists with weapons of mass destruction Gary infiltrates a terrorist group in Cairo The team is discovered and a chase ensues with the team killing the terrorists However the city is left in ruins drawing criticism from the Film Actors Guild F A G a union of liberal Hollywood actors led by Alec Baldwin At the base Gary tells Lisa that as a child his acting talent caused his brother to be savagely killed by gorillas While the two grow close and have sex terrorists blow up the Panama Canal in retaliation for the Cairo operation killing thousands The Film Actors Guild blame this on Team America as well as Kim chastising the terrorists for detonating one bomb too early Gary feeling his acting talents have again resulted in innocent people dying resigns from Team America The remaining members depart for the Middle East but are defeated and captured by North Korean forces while Michael Moore blows up Team America s base in a suicide attack In North Korea Kim invites the Film Actors Guild and world leaders to a peace ceremony planning to detonate several bombs around the world while they are distracted Succumbing to depression Gary is reminded of his responsibility by a rambling speech from a drunken tramp Returning to the team s base he finds Spottswoode has survived Moore s bombing After regaining Spottswoode s trust by giving him a blowjob and undergoing one day training Gary goes to North Korea where he uses his acting skills to infiltrate the base and free the team although Lisa is held hostage by Kim The team is confronted by the Film Actors Guild and kill most of the actors in their ensuing fight After Gary uses his acting skills to save Chris from Susan Sarandon Chris confesses to Gary that the reason he dislikes actors is because he was gang raped by the cast of the musical Cats when he was 19 years old The team crashes the peace ceremony and Gary goes on stage delivering a recontextualized version of the tramp s speech arguing that dicks though criticized by pussies are necessary to stop assholes that convinces the world s leaders to unite Kim betrays and kills Baldwin for being unable to counter Gary s argument but he is kicked over a balcony by Lisa and impaled on the German delegate s Pickelhaube Kim reveals his true form as an extraterrestrial cockroach and flees in a spaceship vowing to return Gary and Lisa happily begin a relationship and the team reunites preparing to fight the world s terrorists once again Cast EditTrey Parker as Gary Johnston Joe Smith Carson Kim Jong Il Hans Blix Matt Damon Tim Robbins Sean Penn Michael Moore Helen Hunt Peter Jennings Susan Sarandon Drunk in Bar Liv Tyler Janeane Garofalo Matt Stone as Chris Roth George Clooney Danny Glover Ethan Hawke Martin Sheen Kristen Miller as Lisa Jones Masasa Moyo as Sarah Wong Daran Norris as Spottswoode Phil Hendrie as I N T E L L I G E N C E Chechen terrorist Maurice LaMarche as Alec Baldwin Chelsea Marguerite as a French mother Jeremy Shada as Jean Francois Fred Tatasciore as Samuel L Jackson Greg Ballora Scott Land and Tony Urbano as Lead puppeteersThe film also features a man dressed as a giant statue of Kim Il Sung two black cats who pose as panthers two nurse sharks and a cockroach with the difference in size with the marionettes played for humorous effect A poster of the Barbi Twins was featured on the billboard in Times Square making the Twins the only non marionette humans in the film Production Edit nbsp Creators Trey Parker left and Matt Stone right were exhausted with production on Team America and its scheduling extremes Development Edit The film s origins involve Parker and Stone watching Gerry and Sylvia Anderson s Thunderbirds on television while bored Parker found that the series was unable to hold his interest as a child because the dialogue was so expository and slow and it took itself really seriously 5 The duo inquired about the rights to the series and found out that Universal Studios was doing a Thunderbirds film directed by Jonathan Frakes We said What Jonathan Frakes is directing puppets and then we found out it was a live action version and we were disappointed said Parker 6 News broke of the duo signing on to create the film on October 17 2002 with Stone revealing that it would be a homage to Anderson 7 The news was confirmed in June 2003 with Variety quoting Stone as saying What we wanted was to do a send up of these super important huge action movies that Jerry Bruckheimer makes 8 Before production began Team America was championed at Paramount Pictures by Scott Rudin who had been the executive producer for Parker and Stone s previous film South Park Bigger Longer amp Uncut After the hassle of producing the South Park film Parker and Stone had vowed never to create another movie 6 Other studio executives were initially unenthusiastic about the project the studio was in favor of the film s lack of political correctness but were confused by the use of puppets The executives explained that they could not make profit from an R rated puppet feature and Parker countered that similar things had been said about the South Park film an R rated animated musical which had become a box office hit 9 Tom Freston who was co president of Viacom Paramount s parent company also supported the film feeling that Paramount should make more lower budget films that appeal to children and young adults after the studio s failures with adult oriented films such as The Stepford Wives 10 According to Parker and Stone executives were finally won over after they saw the dailies from the film s production 5 Writing Edit Parker Stone and longtime writing partner Pam Brady spent nearly two years perfecting the Team America script For influences they studied scores of popular action and disaster films such as Alien Top Gun and S W A T 11 The duo watched Pearl Harbor to get the nuances of the puppets just right when they were staring at each other and also used Ben Affleck as a model 9 To help shape the film s archetypal heroes from the true believer to the reluctant hero to the guy who sells out his friends for greater glory they read the books of Joseph Campbell On one level it s a big send up Brady said But on another it s about foreign policy 11 The first draft of the script was turned in well before the Iraq War 9 The film takes aim at various celebrities many of whom came out in opposition to the Iraq War in 2003 Brady explained that the film s treatment of celebrities was derived from her annoyance at the screen time given to celebrities in the beginning of the Iraq War in lieu of foreign policy experts 11 Filming Edit The film s central concept was easier to conceive than to execute 11 Team America was produced using a crew of about 200 people which sometimes required four people at a time to manipulate a marionette The duo were forced to constantly rewrite the film during production due to the limited nature of the puppets The 270 puppet characters were created by the Chiodo Brothers who previously designed puppets for films such as Elf and Dinosaur The costumers of the crew were responsible for making sure the over 1 000 costumes remained in cohesive order and were realistic Production began on May 23 2004 6 The project was interrupted multiple times early on in production 9 As soon as filming began Parker and Stone labored to find the right comic tone the original script for the film contained many more jokes After shooting the very first scene the two realized the jokes were not working and that the humor instead came from the marionettes 12 Puppets doing jokes is not funny Stone found But when you see puppets doing melodrama spitting up blood and talking about how they were raped as children that s funny 11 Filming was done by three units shooting different parts at the same time Occasionally the producers had up to five cameras set up to capture the scene 5 The film was mainly based on the 1982 cult classic action film Megaforce of which Parker and Stone had been fans Many ideas had been copied such as the flying motorcycle sequence The film was painstakingly made realistic which led to various shots being re done throughout the process due to Parker and Stone s obsession with detail and craftsmanship For example a tiny Uzi cost 1 000 to construct and Kim Jong Il s eyeglasses were made with hand ground prescription lenses 11 Although the filmmakers hired three dozen marionette operators simple performances from the marionettes were nearly impossible a simple shot such as a character drinking might take a half day to complete successfully 11 Parker and Stone agreed during production of Team America that it was the hardest thing they d ever done Rather than rely on computer generated special effects added in post production the filmmakers vied to capture every stunt live on film 11 Parker likened each shot to a complicated math problem 13 The late September 2004 deadline for the film s completion 5 11 took a toll on both filmmakers as did various difficulties in working with puppets with Stone who described the film as the worst time of my life resorting to coffee to work 20 hour days and sleeping pills to go to bed 14 The film was barely completed in time for its October 15 release date At a press junket in Los Angeles on October 5 journalists were only shown a 20 minute reel of highlights because there was no finished print 15 Many of the film s producers had not seen the entire film with the sound mix until the premiere 12 Editing Edit It s a back and forth with the board They said it can t be as many positions so we cut out a couple of them We love the golden shower but I guess they said no to that But I just love that they have to watch it Seriously can you imagine getting a videotape with just a close up of a puppet asshole and you have to watch it Trey Parker on the clashes between him and Stone and the MPAA 13 Even before the scene s submission to the Motion Picture Association of America Parker planned to have fun pushing the limits by throwing in the graphic sex scene 6 The duo knew the racy film would be met with some opposition but were outraged when the film came back with their harshest rating NC 17 The original cut s minute and a half sex scene with Gary and Lisa was cut down to 50 seconds The original scene also featured the two puppets urinating and defecating on one another 13 which was based on what children do humorously with dolls such as Barbie and Ken At least nine edits of the puppet love scene were shown to the MPAA before the board accepted that it had been toned down enough to qualify for an R rating 16 Parker contrasted the MPAA s reluctance for the sex scene to their acceptance of the violence Meanwhile we re taking other puppets and you know blowing their heads off they re covered with blood and stuff and the MPAA didn t have a word to say about that 17 In addition to the sex scene the MPAA also objected to the scene in which the Hans Blix puppet is eaten by sharks 18 Stone and Parker had faced a similar conflict with their previous film South Park Bigger Longer amp Uncut in 1999 19 Music Edit nbsp Harry Gregson Williams Team America March source source Main theme of the 2004 film Team America World Police Problems playing this file See media help The film s score was composed and conducted by Harry Gregson Williams The soundtrack also contains Magic Carpet Ride performed by Steppenwolf Battle Without Honor or Humanity performed by Tomoyasu Hotei Forbidden Bitter Melon Dance performed by Jeff Faustman Bu Dunyada Askindan Olmek performed by Kubat and songs by Trey Parker including Everyone Has AIDS Freedom Isn t Free America Fuck Yeah America Fuck Yeah Bummer Remix Derka Derk Terrorist Theme Only a Woman I m So Ronery The End of an Act Montage You Are Worthless Alec Baldwin and North Korean Melody Individuals parodied in the film EditFamous people depicted as puppets and lampooned in the film include Michael Moore Alec Baldwin Sean Penn Tim Robbins Helen Hunt George Clooney Liv Tyler Martin Sheen Susan Sarandon Janeane Garofalo Matt Damon Samuel L Jackson Danny Glover Ethan Hawke Kim Jong Il Muammar Gaddafi Tony Blair Queen Elizabeth II Qaboos bin Said Fidel Castro Peter Jennings and Hans Blix Almost all of them are killed in gory and violent ways nbsp North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il was parodied in the film and the Democratic People s Republic of Korea asked the Czech Republic to ban it 20 Reactions from those parodied were mixed Baldwin found the project so funny 21 and expressed interest in lending his voice to his character 22 In a 2008 video interview with Time Baldwin related how his daughter Ireland s classmates would recite Kim Jong Il s line to him You are worthress Arec Barrwin sic 21 Sean Penn who is portrayed making outlandish claims about how happy and utopian Iraq was before Team America showed up sent Parker and Stone an angry letter inviting them to tour Iraq with him ending with the words fuck you 23 Both George Clooney and Matt Damon are said to be friends with Stone and Parker and Clooney has stated that he would have been insulted had he not been included in the film 24 Damon is portrayed as a simpleton who can only say his own name When asked about the film in 2016 Damon stated that he was confused by the portrayal given that he was already known as both a screenwriter and an actor I was always bewildered by that and I never talked to Trey and Matt about that And incidentally I believe those two are geniuses and I don t use that word lightly I think they are absolute geniuses and what they ve done is awesome and I m a big fan of theirs but I never quite understood that one 25 Stone and Parker had earlier stated in an interview that they were inspired to give the Damon character that personality only after seeing the puppet that was made for him which looked kind of mentally deficient 26 Kim Jong Il a noted film buff 27 never commented publicly about his depiction in Team America World Police although shortly after its release North Korea asked the Czech Republic to ban the film the country refused saying that North Koreans had been rebuffed in their effort to undermine the Czech Republic s post Communist era freedom 20 The filmmakers acknowledged this in a DVD extra and jokingly suggested he sings I m So Ronery Michael Moore is depicted as a fat hot dog eating glutton who partakes in suicide bombing and is referred to as a giant socialist weasel by I N T E L L I G E N C E Stone explained the reason for this portrayal in an MSNBC interview We have a very specific beef with Michael Moore I did an interview and he didn t mischaracterize me or anything I said in Bowling for Columbine But what he did do was put this cartoon titled A Brief History of the United States of America written by Moore animated and directed by Harold Moss right after me that made it look like we did that cartoon 28 A deleted scene also shows Meryl Streep and Ben Affleck who is portrayed with a real life hand replacing his head Release EditThe world premiere of Team America World Police took place on October 11 2004 in Hollywood Los Angeles The United States premiere was on October 14 2004 at the Denver Film Festival Paramount Pictures released the film in the United States on October 15 2004 Home media Edit The film was released on DVD and VHS in the United States on May 17 2005 by Paramount Home Entertainment available in both R rated and unrated versions The film was released on Blu ray Disc on August 1 2017 in the United States 29 A 2 Disc Blu ray edition was released on July 25 2023 by Shout Factory 30 Reception EditCritical response Edit On Rotten Tomatoes Team America World Police has a 77 based on 198 reviews and an average score of 7 00 10 The site s consensus states Team America will either offend you or leave you in stitches It ll probably do both 31 On Metacritic the film has a score of 64 out of 100 based on reviews from 38 critics indicating generally favorable reviews 32 Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a B grade on an A to F scale 33 Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised the film as A ruthlessly clever musical a punchy political parody and the hottest look ever at naked puppets 34 Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter wrote Team America World Police is to political commentary what lap dancing is to ballet There is no room for subtlety Aiming a rude foul mouthed political satire everywhere left right and center Trey Parker and Matt Stone blow up a good deal of the world not to mention the egos of many Hollywood personalities 35 Brian Lowry of Variety was positive about the satire saying the film goes the extra mile to piss off everybody which includes gleefully destroying renowned Hollywood liberals literally and figuratively but less positive about other aspects of the film All told the clever visual bits and hilarious songs don t entirely compensate for the many flat or beyond over the top spells Lowry praised the songs saying they deliver the movie s biggest highlights and he also praised the production design calling it a true technical achievement recreating a dizzying array of sets and costumes at one third scale and clearly having plenty of fun doing so down to using housecats as stand ins for terrifying panthers 36 Richard Corliss of Time also highlighted the production The real kick however is in the grandeur and detail of the production design by Jim Dultz and David Rockwell 37 Kim Newman of Empire called it a patchy comedy that s stronger as a genre mocker than a political satire 38 Roger Ebert gave the film 1 out of 4 stars and wrote I wasn t offended by the movie s content so much as by its nihilism and was critical of the film s sneer at both sides approach comparing it to a cocky teenager who s had a couple of drinks before the party they don t have a plan for who they want to offend only an intention to be as offensive as possible 39 Contemporary and retrospective comment on the film has observed that it takes aim at militarism in the United States and Hollywood liberals response David Edelstein in a review for Slate called the film a stink bomb lobbed at American arrogance and overweening militarism 40 In The Village Voice Michael Atkinson wrote Madly Rorschachian TAWP appears to rub its shitty boots on U S militarism as well as Hollywood liberals 41 National Review Online named the film 24 in its list of The Best Conservative Movies Brian C Anderson wrote the film s utter disgust with air headed left wing celebrity activism remains unmatched in popular culture 42 Political and social commentator Andrew Sullivan considers the film brilliant in its skewering of both the left and right s approach on terrorism citation needed Sullivan a fan of Stone and Parker s other work as well popularized the term South Park Republican to describe himself and other like minded fiscal conservatives social libertarians Parker himself is a registered Libertarian 43 Before the film s release it was criticized by Matt Drudge and conservative group Move America Forward for mocking the War on terror 10 Before Team America was released statements were released by a senior Bush administration official condemning the film Upon receiving the news the duo called and found it was instead a junior staffer causing Stone to quip What is it junior or senior What are we talking about here Who knows It might have been the janitor The two eventually decided it was free publicity with which they were fine 5 Some media outlets interpreted the film s release on October 15 to be in theaters before the November elections Parker said the release date had nothing to do with the elections and the date was pushed back as far as possible due to production delays but they had to return to South Park by October 20 5 Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson was supposed to have met Parker before production but they cancelled the meeting acknowledging he would not like the film s expletives Anderson saw the completed film and felt there are good fun parts in the film but the language wasn t to my liking 44 Box office Edit Team America earned 12 120 358 in its opening U S weekend ranking number three behind Shark Tale and Friday Night Lights The film eventually grossed a total of 50 946 640 with 32 886 074 in U S domestic receipts and 18 160 566 in international proceeds 4 Filmmakers response Edit In an interview with Matt Stone following the film s release 45 Anwar Brett of the BBC asked For all the targets you choose to take pot shots at George W Bush isn t one of them How come Stone replied If you want to see Bush bashing in America you only have to walk about 10 feet to find it Trey and I are always attracted to what other people aren t doing Frankly that wasn t the movie we wanted to make In another interview Parker and Stone further clarified the meaning of the film s ending which tries to justify the role of the United States as the world police 46 Because that s the thing that we realized when we were making the movie It was always the hardest thing We wanted to deal with this emotion of being hated as an American That was the thing that was intriguing to us and having Gary the main character deal with that emotion And so him becoming ashamed to be a part of Team America and being ashamed of himself he comes to realize that just as he got his brother killed by gorillas he didn t kill his brother he was a dick he wasn t an asshole so too does America have this role in the world as a dick Cops are dicks you fucking hate cops but you need em Awards Edit In a worldwide survey of comedians by The Guardian the film was included on a list of the fifty funniest films 47 In 2010 The Guardian listed the film as the 4th greatest comedy film of all time 48 In 2019 The Guardian ranked the film tenth on its list of 100 best films of the 21st century 49 Director Quentin Tarantino counted Team America World Police in his list of top 20 films released since 1992 when his filmmaking career began and director Edgar Wright named it as one of his 1 000 favorite films 50 51 Award Category Nominee ResultEmpire Award Best Comedy Team America World Police WonGolden Schmoes Best Comedy of the YearBest Music in a MovieMost Memorable Scene in a Movie Team America World Police NominatedGolden Trailer Best Comedy Team America World Police NominatedIFMCA Award Best Original Score for a Comedy Film Harry Gregson Williams NominatedGolden Reel Award Best Sound Editing in Feature Film Animated Bruce Howell supervising sound editor Beth Sterner supervising sound editor Thomas W Small supervising foley editor Lydia Quidilla supervising dialogue editor Robert Ulrich supervising adr editor Chuck Michael sound effects editor Peter Zinda sound effects editor Jon Title sound effects editor Michael Kamper sound effects editor Doug Jackson sound effects editor Cary Butler sound effects editor dialogue editor Fred Burke foley editor Scott Curtis foley editor Nic Ratner music editor NominatedMTV Movie Award Best Action Sequence Team America World Police NominatedOFCS Award Best Animated Feature Team America World Police NominatedPeople s Choice Award Favorite Animated Movie Team America World Police NominatedGolden Satellite Award Best Motion Picture Animated or Mixed Media Team America World Police NominatedTeen Choice Award Choice Movie Animated Computer Generated Team America World Police NominatedSoundtrack EditThe film s soundtrack was released on October 19 2004 and on CD on January 10 2005 by Atlantic Records All songs are written and performed by Trey Parker except where indicated No TitleWriter s ArtistLength1 Everyone Has AIDS Trey ParkerMarc Shaiman 1 152 Freedom Isn t Free 2 363 America Fuck Yeah 2 074 Derka Derk Terrorist Theme 0 475 Only a Woman 2 566 I m So Ronery 1 557 America Fuck Yeah Bummer Remix 0 558 The End of an Act 2 209 Montage 2 0310 North Korea Melody 1 4511 The Team America March Stephen BartonHarry Gregson WilliamsJames McKee SmithHarry Gregson Williams5 3112 Lisa amp Gary Gregson WilliamsSmithGregson Williams6 1413 F A G Gregson WilliamsSteve JablonskyGregson Williams2 3414 Putting a Jihad on You Gregson WilliamsJablonskyGregson Williams3 4415 Kim Jong il Gregson WilliamsJablonskySmithGregson Williams5 5816 Mount Rush More BartonGregson WilliamsGregson Williams4 21Total length 47 00 Featured songs not included in the soundtrack Name Artist Magic Carpet Ride Steppenwolf Battle Without Honor or Humanity Tomoyasu Hotei Forbidden Bitter Melon Dance Jeff Faustman Bu Dunyada Askindan Olmek KubatLegacy EditIn the aftermath of the December 2014 terrorism threats by Guardians of Peace on showings of the film The Interview which resulted in Sony Pictures pulling the film from release 52 several theatres including Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin Texas protested the loss by scheduling free showings of Team America World Police 53 However Paramount pulled distribution of Team America from theaters including those in Cleveland Atlanta and New Orleans 54 55 56 This action was seen by President Barack Obama as an attack on freedom of speech by Hollywood studios 57 and others as an act of pure cowardice 58 Snippets of the film mocking Kim Jong Il were reportedly set to be included alongside copies of The Interview in helium filled balloons launched by North Korean defectors into their home country in an effort to inspire education on the Western world s views on it 59 See also EditList of live action puppet filmsReferences Edit a b Catalog Team America World Police American Film Institute Retrieved December 18 2019 Duration in mins 98 Countries Germany United States Team America World Police British Board of Film Classification November 3 2004 Retrieved June 19 2013 Approved Running time 97m 49s Team America World Police 2004 British Film Institute Archived from the original on August 11 2016 Retrieved June 3 2016 Countries Germany USA a b c d Team America World Police Box Office Mojo Retrieved December 15 2014 a b c d e f Puppetry of the Meanest In Focus October 4 2004 Archived from the original on July 27 2011 Retrieved June 12 2011 a b c d Trey and Matt String Together Team America Zap2It August 23 2004 Archived from the original on July 27 2011 Retrieved June 12 2011 Friedman Roger October 17 2002 South Park Creators Pull the Strings Fox News Channel Retrieved June 12 2011 Sauriol Patrick June 25 2003 South ParkCreators PrepareTeam America Mania com source Variety Archived from the original on October 18 2012 Retrieved June 12 2011 a b c d Interview Matt Stone Trey Parker Mediasharx October 13 2005 Archived from the original on March 2 2016 Retrieved June 12 2014 a b Bowles Scott October 11 2004 Parker Stone pull Team strings yank a few chains USA Today Retrieved June 12 2011 a b c d e f g h i Horn John September 12 2004 Launching a small scale offensive Los Angeles Times Retrieved June 15 2020 a b Havrilesky Heather October 12 2004 Puppet masters Salon Retrieved June 12 2011 a b c Puppetmasters Rolling Stone October 6 2004 Archived from the original on July 27 2011 Retrieved June 12 2011 Stone says Team America was lowest point The Guardian December 31 2004 Retrieved June 12 2011 Friedman Roger October 5 2004 Team America Sex Puppets amp Controversy Fox News Channel Retrieved June 12 2011 R Sex for Team America Puppets E October 8 2004 Archived from the original on July 27 2011 Retrieved June 12 2011 Hollywood s new puppetmasters Columbia Chronicle October 11 2004 Archived from the original on July 27 2011 Retrieved June 12 2011 South Park Stars Upset Over Puppet Sex Censorship ContactMusic October 7 2004 Retrieved June 12 2011 Weinraub Bernard June 29 1999 Loosening a Strict Film Rating for South Park The New York Times Retrieved March 7 2011 a b Team America unsettles Team Kim in Pyongyang Worldtribune com Archived from the original on January 18 2012 Retrieved November 20 2010 a b Alec Baldwin on Tracy Morgan and Kim Jong Il Live 10 Questions Event TIME Magazine Official YouTube Channel Archived from the original on December 22 2021 Retrieved June 17 2011 Team America speaks MovieWeb October 12 2004 Archived from the original on September 6 2012 Retrieved July 7 2010 Letter by Sean Penn DrudgeReport Archives October 8 2004 Retrieved September 14 2009 Clooney Supports Team America Duo January 31 2006 the Hollywood big hitters all insist they would have been offended to be left out of the film I am Matt Damon Ask Me Anything Reddit July 19 2016 Shepherd Jack July 21 2016 Matt Damon reveals why he s cool with Team America The Independent Archived from the original on May 26 2022 North Korean leader loves Hennessey Bond movies CNN January 8 2003 Team America takes on moviegoers Today com October 15 2004 Team America World Police Blu ray Blu ray com Archived from the original on August 17 2012 Retrieved May 20 2017 Team America World Police Uncensored And Unrated Shout Factory Retrieved May 2 2023 Team America World Police 2004 Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved May 2 2021 Team America World Police Metacritic Retrieved May 4 2020 TEAM AMERICA WORLD POLICE 2004 B CinemaScore Archived from the original on December 20 2018 Travers Peter October 14 2004 Team America World Police Rolling Stone Team America World Police THR s 2004 Review The Hollywood Reporter October 15 2019 Lowry Brian October 10 2004 Team America World Police Variety When Puppets Get Political TIME June 18 2008 Archived from the original on June 18 2008 Retrieved December 12 2020 Kim Newman January 1 2000 Team America World Police Empire film magazine Ebert Roger October 14 2004 Team America World Police movie review 2004 Chicago Sun Times Edelstein David October 14 2004 Team America puppets vs the world Slate Atkinson Michael October 19 2004 Attack of the Puppet People The Village Voice Miller John February 23 2009 The Best Conservative Movies National Review Winter Bill Trey Parker Libertarian Advocates for Self Government Archived from the original on January 13 2008 Retrieved December 13 2008 When asked to describe his politics Parker said he was a registered Libertarian Hassan Genevieve October 7 2008 Talking Shop Gerry Anderson BBC News Retrieved December 13 2008 Interview with Matt Stone BBC Puppet Masters Interview with Matt Stone and Trey Parker Salon Archived from the original on December 24 2007 Guardian Staff December 18 2016 The 50 funniest films chosen by comedians the Guardian Retrieved December 12 2020 Team America World Police No 4 best comedy film of all time the Guardian October 18 2010 Retrieved June 19 2021 The 100 best films of the 21st century The Guardian September 13 2019 Retrieved September 17 2019 Brown Lane August 17 2009 Team America Anything Else Among the Best Movies of the Past Seventeen Years Claims Quentin Tarantino Vulture New York Media LLC Retrieved September 13 2016 Sam DiSalle Edgar Wright s 1000 Favorite Movies Mubi Retrieved July 7 2017 Humphries Rusty December 17 2014 Sony needs Team America World Police Washington Times Burlingame Russ December 18 2014 The Interview To Be Replaced By Team America World Police At Alamo Drafthouse ComicBook com Lieberman David December 18 2014 Paramount Cancels Team America Showings Theaters Say Deadline Hollywood Paramount pulls screenings of Team America World Police theaters say Los Angeles Times Retrieved December 19 2014 Team America World Police screenings canceled in wake of controversy over The Interview The Times Picayune NOLA com Retrieved December 19 2014 Weigel David December 18 2014 First The Interview Now Theaters Cancel Protest Screenings of Team America Bloomberg Politics Cave Team America Screenings To Replace The Interview Pulled By Paramount The Inquisitor December 18 2014 Bond Paul April 20 2015 The Interview Sequel Inside the Frightening Battle Raging on the North Korean Border The Hollywood Reporter Moriarty Visits Matt amp Trey On The Team America Set set report from AintItCool com Team America World Police synopsis clips and images from LatinoReview com October 2004 Play South Park s Puppet Regime Wired 12 10 Retrieved October 6 2004 BBC Interview with Matt Stone Team America Guy In Bar Philosophy by composer M RegtienFurther reading EditDubowsky Jack Curtis 2017 Team America World Police Duplicitous Voices of the Socio political Spy Musical In Donnelly Kevin J Carroll Beth eds Contemporary Musical Film Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press pp 40 57 ISBN 978 1 4744 1313 8 External links Edit nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Team America World Police Team America World Police at IMDb Team America World Police at The Big Cartoon DataBase Team America World Police at Box Office Mojo Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Team America World Police amp oldid 1180295283, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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