Prime Time: Orgazmo (1997)

The second feature from Trey Parker, who wears as many hats as he usually does by directing, writing the script, starring in the lead role, and helping to edit and produce the music, Orgazmo is almost as much fun as anything else that he's been attached to, yet it's probably his most overlooked (because BASEketball, directed by David Zucker, is just a lot funnier, and Cannibal! The Musical is one that people seek out once they learn of its existence, then you get an unstoppable run from the start of South Park).

The plot revolves around a young Mormon named Joseph Young (Parker). While knocking on doors and attempting to spread the good word, Joe interrupts the shooting of a porn movie. The director, Maxxx Orbison (Michael Dean Jacobs) is impressed when he sees Joe fighting off the men who have been sent to violently teach him a lesson, which leads to him offering Joe a job. Of course Joe doesn't want to be involved with porn, it goes against all of his beliefs, but he is won over by the fact that it is a chance to make a lot of money while not having to actually have any sex. Orbison assures him that they will use a stand-in for all of the penetration shots. And so begins the unlikely porn career of Joe, who befriends his main co-star, Ben (Dian Bachar), with the two portraying, respectively, Orgazmo and Choda Boy, and eventually taking their characters out into the real world to do some good.

Despite overflowing with silliness, including a gadget that can force people to have immediate orgasms, and despite the fact it plays out like a superhero spoof for certain scenes, especially in the third act, Orgazmo is typical Parker, often most on point when it posits the judgemental view of Joe against the matter-of-fact way in which others around him treat consensual sex. This is a film that, despite the naughty nature of the material, celebrates the fact that there are good people all around us, whether they are trying to get others to pray or trying to give others pleasure, and so many different little ways to make the world a better place.

Parker is great in the lead role, working his schtick as well as he usually does, and he's surrounded by a fun cast. Bachar is always willing to make himself look stupid, and also does a great superhero sidekick routine whenever he's being Choda Boy, and Jacobs is great as the stereotypical kind of guy you would imagine being a porn film director. Matt Stone has a small, but hilarious, role, playing a lighting guy who keeps getting too excited at the action in front of him. There's also some canny casting in the form of Ron Jeremy, Chasey Lain, and Juli Ashton (names known to many of you already, even if you try to plead ignorance).

The script and direction are both fine. There's a lot of fun dialogue, the pacing ensures viewers won't feel that it overstays its welcome, and there is some careful blocking and character placement allowing for the porn-centric scenes to stay within the realms of amusing titillation.

Mormonism, porn, superhero shenanigans, and at least one hilarious cheesy rock track . . . what's not to like?

8/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.

Ani-MAY-tion Month: South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut (1999)

South Park. Everyone knows about it by now, don't they? The lo-fi animated show created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone that became a huge success. Anyone who has seen 6 Days To Air: The Making Of South Park already knows the energy and creativity it takes to make each episode of the show, but adapting it into a decent feature movie should bring all new challenges and problems. Or, at least, that would be the general consensus. But nobody ever told Parker and Stone the rules, which is why they consistently manage to break them, and do so with no small amount of success.

The plot of the South Park movie sees Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny all sneaking their way in to see the new Terrance and Phillip movie, Asses Of Fire. The movie is a non-stop parade of flatulence and profanity, with one or two great musical numbers in the mix. The boys are, understandably, very impressed. They're also very impressionable, and it's not long until all of the kids are using language that upsets all of the adults. Keen to find a way to solve the problem, the parents, led by the militant Sheila Broflovski, settle on a course of action that should please everyone with a sense of decency. They blame Canada. Unfortunately, that could lead to World War III, and an opportunity for Satan to come up from Hell and rule over an apocalyptic landscape. Maybe the naughty language wasn't so bad after all.

The great thing about Parker and Stone is the way they can take pot shots at everyone and everything while still keeping their eye very much on a main target. On this occasion, the target is reactionary measures taken by people desperate for something to be angry with.
As the adults all sing at the end of the "Blame Canada" song: "We must blame them and cause a fuss, before somebody thinks of blaming us!"

There are some fun celebrity vocal cameos, but otherwise this is business as usual for the two South Park guys as they provide their usual crowd of voices. I don't know much that worked against them during the big musical numbers, but it doesn't seem to have done any harm. In fact, the musical numbers are SO good that this movie allowed Parker and Stone to pop along to the Oscars, in a memorable night that provided some great images easily available with a little searching (seriously, look them up).

Profane, hilarious, full of great musical numbers (including the main hit from Terrance and Phillip), smart, and brilliantly developing South Park for the big screen without ever losing its essence. I highly recommend South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut. But not for the kids.

9/10

http://www.amazon.com/South-Park-Bigger-Longer-Blu-ray/dp/B00AEBB8TM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1398209785&sr=8-2&keywords=south+park+bigger+longer+and+uncut

And if any ONE person ever clicks on this link and buys this stash of South Park madness then I will be very grateful - http://www.amazon.com/South-Park-Complete-Seasons-1-15/dp/B008DI03T4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398209840&sr=8-1&keywords=south+park+box+set

Don't forget, every copy of my book sold gets a few pounds in my pocket, and gets you a good read (if I say so myself).

The UK version can be bought here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1395945647&sr=1-3&keywords=movie+guide

And American folks can buy it here - http://www.amazon.com/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395945752&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=TJs+ramshackle+mov

As much as I love the rest of the world, I can't keep up with all of the different links in different territories, but trust me when I say that it should be there on your local Amazon.

April Fools: BASEketball (1998)

Trey Parker and Matt Stone star as Joe Cooper and Doug Remer, respectively, in this sports comedy that's really just an excuse to cram as many gags as possible into every scene and to highlight the comedy value of a really good insult.

"Coop" and Remer are a pair of losers, but they're a pair of losers who create a sport that becomes very, very popular in America. It's a cross between basketball and baseball. One player tries to throw a ball that will land in the basket, with the points scored determined by his position, while the opposing team try to psyche them out with various insults. Thanks to a general lack of ambition, and a wish to keep their sport pure, the guys manage to keep baseketball as something more about the actual players and gameplay than money and sponsorship deals. But scheming Baxter Cain (Robert Vaughn) really wants to change that.

Despite feeling very much like a Trey Parker and Matt Stone movie, BASEketball only makes use of the duo in an acting capacity, although it certainly feels like one or two moments came straight from their warped little minds (including a fantastic sneak preview of "Cartman"). The script was actually co-written by director David Zucker, along with Robert LoCash, Lewis Friedman and Jeff Wright. But Parker and Stone made sure they could rewrite enough to keep everything nicely in line with their own sensibilities.

The leading men may not be the most versatile performers, but they're perfect for these roles, playing two dudes who just have a lot of fun, realise that others enjoy what they do, and then have to walk a tightrope between doing well in life and selling out. It's not an unfamiliar scenario for them to deal with. The other main team member, Squeak Scolari (played by Dian Bachar), is very funny, and very often the butt of the jokes.
Elsewhere in the cast, Yasmine Bleeth has fun as the woman that "Coop" falls for, Jenny McCarthy and Ernest Borgnine provide some laughs, and Vaughn is amusingly conniving and unflappable, even while dealing with idiots around him.

Zucker has, of course, been involved with many great comedies in his career, many of them better known than this one, but BASEketball is so good that I still rank it up there with his best stuff. If you've not seen it yet then get to it whenever you can. It's guaranteed to make you laugh.*

9/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Baseketball-DVD-Trey-Parker/dp/B0000A33QV/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1397076115&sr=1-1&keywords=baseketball

*Comedy is subjective, everyone has a different sense of humour, any guarantees offered here by the author do not count as actual guarantees.