# Team America - Oh my God that was awful. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 9, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-america-oh-my-god-that-was-awful/356008 "2006-05-09T02:46:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fromage_A_Trois)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-america-oh-my-god-that-was-awful/356008/61 "2006-05-10T12:59:27Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] It’s like watching your parents have sex and laughing your ass off and afterwards you wonder how you could laugh at something so awful you’re not supposed to laugh at, but you did. [/QUOTE] Dude, :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-america-oh-my-god-that-was-awful/356008/62 "2006-05-10T14:06:12Z")
[QUOTE=jackelope] **Evil Captor** , good call: Parker and Stone said in an interview (it migh be on the DVD; I forget) that their goal in making the film was not to make a “satire” of a big-budget action movie, but to go ahead and just _make a standard big-budget action movie_, with stupid-looking puppets. [/quote] Which leaves me with one question… why? Is the stupid-looking puppet genre underappreciated? It’s just senseless, and it gets extremely boring after the first 5 minutes. The first scene where the puppets engage in hand-to-hand combat and blow stuff up was mildly amusing, but a whole frickin’ film of it is insanely stupid, and not all that funny. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-america-oh-my-god-that-was-awful/356008/63 "2006-05-10T14:08:07Z")
Loved it. Uneven, a bit slow in parts, mind-bendingly raunchy…and when it’s funny, it’s FUNNY! Remind me of the “Signal for help” joke(s) again? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-america-oh-my-god-that-was-awful/356008/64 "2006-05-10T15:02:19Z")
[QUOTE=jackelope] **Evil Captor** , good call: Parker and Stone said in an interview (it migh be on the DVD; I forget) that their goal in making the film was not to make a “satire” of a big-budget action movie, but to go ahead and just _make a standard big-budget action movie_, with stupid-looking puppets. Granted, at times the movie went WAY off into satire-land, but many of the scenes would have been completely unremarkable if they’d been shot with live actors and spliced into a movie like _Armageddon_ or _Pearl Harbor_. By the way, the action scenes in _TA:WP_ were choreographed by the same guy who did the fight scenes in the _Matrix_ movies. [/QUOTE] Hear that sound? Whooosshhhh. They do that sometimes. It was a satire top to bottom. The whole thing. American politics as an action movie. Kind of like real life. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-america-oh-my-god-that-was-awful/356008/65 "2006-05-11T01:53:52Z")
[QUOTE=Fromage A Trois] Dude, :eek: [/QUOTE] What? I’ve never actually seen my parents doing it. They split up before I was born. I was just grasping for analogies. ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-america-oh-my-god-that-was-awful/356008/66 "2006-05-11T08:16:58Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Loved it. Uneven, a bit slow in parts, mind-bendingly raunchy…and when it’s funny, it’s FUNNY! Remind me of the “Signal for help” joke(s) again? [/QUOTE] When Gary is about to go into the tavern o’ terrorism, Joe says: “Remember, if you think they’re on to you, give us the signal. Do you remember the signal?” And Gary opens his mouth and waves his arms around in a totally ridiculous way. It’s a visual joke. I watched the DVD again today, and it just keeps getting better in my mind. The script doesn’t have a lot of “gags,” really. The humor is more sophisticated than one expects (especially considering the obvious lowbrow bits). It has a very keen grasp on all the action-movie cliches and understands that the best way to parody ridiculous things is to play them straight. Some of the best moments are when they pretty much call action movies on their bullshit, like (paraphrasing): > [@](#): > > Spottswoode: If you don’t have what it takes, then there’s the door. > Gary: OK. (walks out) > Spottswoode: … and > [@](#): > > Gary: Okay, a limousine that can fly. Now I have seen everything. > Spottswoode: Really? Have you seen a man eat his own head? > Gary: No. > Spottswoode: So, then you haven’t seen everything. and > [@](#): > > Kim Jong Il: I’m afraid your world is over! [presses the button to set off the WMD’s] in five minutes! …and all the stuff about how Gary is a “top gun actor” and other absurd descriptions of his acting as if it were an actual weapon. It is right out of _Armageddon_, in which the conceit is that the government recruits “the best deep-core driller.” As Affleck says in that movie’s commentary track, “is there someone who rates these things?” (that commentary, by the way, is worth tracking down a copy of the Criterion DVD. Affleck sounds drunk as hell, and funny). And Sarah’s “clairvoyance” is simply stating the obvious. I could go on. One thing I don’t think was mentioned upthread is how awesome the sets, costumes and visual effectgs in _Team America_ are. The sets, in particular, are extraordinarily detailed and beautifully done. The Times Square one knocks me out. And the articulation and detail on the puppets is amazing, not to mention the sheer _number_ of puppets involved in the crowd scenes. A HUGE amount of work and dedication went into this film. It’s to the film’s credit that it’s easy to overlook that. If the puppets were awful or the sets were crap, people wouldn’t get into it enough to analyze whether or not the jokes are funny. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/team-america-oh-my-god-that-was-awful/356008/67 "2006-05-11T08:22:51Z")
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