I’ll never forget where I was June 30, 1999. That was the night I made the unfortunate decision to see Will Smith’s Wild Wild West on its opening night— while on a screen next door, one of my soon-to-be favorite movies had also just been released. Smith’s movie was terrible, but the next night, I righted that wrong and saw South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, and everything has been better from that moment on.
By 1999 South Park was already an incredibly popular show but, for one reason or another, I didn’t really watch it. I’d seen some episodes and enjoyed it but I never got into it. (I was into Independence Day and Men in Black though, hence the opening night decision.) Nevertheless, I was curious to see what a film version looked like, especially with any and all barriers of censorship broken down.
Sitting down in the theater, I’m not sure I knew this film was a musical. Maybe I did and I put it out of my mind, but I remember instantly being delighted and surprised. At this point in my life, I was already a huge musical fan. The original West Side Story was one of my favorites and I would regularly sing along with movies like Aladdin, Little Mermaid, and Lion King. And still, I was not ready for the film to be not only a musical but an all-timer of a musical, featuring banger after banger. All of which I still literally know every single word of, even all these years later.
That first night though, “Mountain Town” may have set the tone, but “Uncle Fucka” brought down the house. If I close my eyes, I can still hear and feel the theater reverberate with shock and awe during the song. No one was ready and that’s certainly how Trey Parker and Matt Stone planned it. It’s a song so vile, so disgusting, and so hilarious it’s like a punch in the face and stomach simultaneously. Instantly you realize this movie is operating on a level you were not ready for. Then you realize the the song and diegetic movie it’s in—an R-rated musical version of a TV show, mind you—is going to be the catalyst for the rest of the story, and things rise to another level entirely.
Everything gets wilder and funnier from there and despite having seen the movie dozens of times, watching it this week for its 25th anniversary, I still found myself overwhelmed with joy throughout and laughing consistently. Which, I have to admit, left me more conflicted than I was expecting.
In 1999, Bigger, Longer & Uncut was already incredibly offensive. That’s the whole point. But in 2024, the fact it might be even more offensive seems sadly prophetic. Parker and Stone saw what censorship and fear of language might do to us. And while the United States never declared war on Canada over the issue like it does in the movie, at times it certainly feels like we’re now at war with ourselves for that reason.
That got me thinking a little deeper. Does my personal tolerance for offensive comedy and a perceived ability to distinguish between language used for hate or humor come from being so intimately familiar with this movie? I think it may play a part. And in that way, I’m grateful for it. I want to be a person who understands there is a line and crossing it is bad. But also that tiptoeing on it, if done right, can be hilarious. Like Satan says, “Without evil there can be no good so it must be good to be evil sometimes.”
After seeing South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut in 1999, I went on and continued to discover more of Parker and Stone’s musicals. Cannibal The Musical, for one. Later, I was first in line for Team America as well as The Book of Mormon. The second two work similarly to South Park, pushing boundaries to make really important points, and I love them all for it. The South Park film also broadened my understanding of what musicals can be. It’s not a genre that can tell only one type of story. It can tell any type of story and, when it’s as smart and beautiful as South Park, it can be magic.
And so, 25 years after its release, I still love South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. This time though, one thing had changed during my re-watch. After singing the songs, laughing and smiling throughout, when the final reprise began, I started to cry. It hit me just how much the movie means to me, how long it’s been a part of my life, and just how incredible it is from top to bottom. I’m pretty nostalgic to begin with but to feel that for this movie is the other thing I didn’t expect. What can I say, though? “That movie has warped my fragile little mind.”
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut turns 25 on June 30. Paramount provided io9 with a copy of its brand new 4K release for review, and you can grab a copy here.
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