South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut

Updated June 26, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Is the ultra-vulgar cartoon that revels in gay, Jewish, and black stereotypes a puerile and offensive outrage or a risk-taking satire carefully calculated to push the buttons of censors and PTA parents nationwide? The answer seems to depend on your age group, on whether or not you've learned enough tart irony to defend your enjoyment of jerkily animated 8-year olds slinging profanity and flaming farts at one another. From the looks of the youth sporting South Park paraphernalia, it seems as if the satire (if any) is lost on the target audience.

South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut does live up to its title, narrowly avoiding an NC-17 rating and pushing the envelope in several directions. All the TV characters are there, with a glut of in-jokes sure to please the devout. The storyline involves a hilarious American overreaction to Canadian smut that results in all-out war. Also, Satan is on the receiving end of an abusive love affair with Saddam Hussein (death by wolves) that may lead to Armageddon. Ground zero, of course, is the crudely-drawn third graders of South Park.