Alternative to What: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)

Welcome to Alternative to What: a weekly column that tries to find a great alternative to driving to the multiplexes. Based on releases of that week, the selections will either be thematically related or feature recurring cast and crew. The goal is to help you better understand the diversity of cinema and hopefully find you some favorites while saving a few bucks. At worse, this column will save you money. Expect each installment to come out on Fridays, unless specified. 

THIS WEEK:

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)

- Alternative To -

Swearnet The Movie (2014)

This was a tough week for Alternative to What. In all honesty, the choices were rather bleak and didn't provide much in the way of interesting alternatives. Is there something out there that could compare to No Good Deed or The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby that is worth mentioning? Sadly for me, no. However, after a lot of hard thinking, I settled on one common theme that is found in the unlikeliest of films: TV shows adapted to the big screen that challenge the ideas of censorship while breaking records for profanity. It seems like a stretch until you consider the two that are currently up for debate.

One of Canada's raunchiest series is The Trailer Park Boys. It only makes sense why they would decide to do a film adaptation at some point based off of their website. According to IMDb, the plot revolves around them running an online website where they curse (935 f-words according to sources). While I know very little about this iconic Canadian series other than it spawned Oscar-nominated actress Ellen Page, it does give me a chance to talk about another film that curses a lot and challenges the notion of censorship. It is something that more audiences are likely to have heard of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

The show itself had always been crude and full of beeps and disgusting content. To a large extent, it still remains the victor of shock commentary despite being cheaply made. When it came to a film, it seemed unprecedented that they would calm down. If anything else, they went meta to an extreme and decided to have songs called "Uncle Fucka" and "Kyle's Mom's a Bitch" that were offensive, sure, but man were they catchy. Even the overall message of the film about censorship and parental supervision is a little awe-inspiring and grounds the vulgarity with a sense of heart.

It does help that the creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker were theater geeks who sought to make their beloved art form into a lowbrow high art. This would eventually evolve into the acclaimed Book of Mormon. However, in 1999, South Park hadn't been on for 10 years yet and it was still in its prime choosing to attack its subjects in ways that got papers talking. With people repulsed by the film, it achieved its own real world meta commentary and reflected the sort of genius that South Park continues to be known for. Are they as good? Not exactly. However, when they were untethered, it resulted in something profoundly candid and full of strangeness.

Will Swearnet: The Movie come close to the acclaim of South Park: Bigger,Longer & Uncut? It seems doubtful. For starters, it hasn't become an international sensation on par with South Park. Also, the music present in the film is beyond inspired and continues to be referenced by fans. Others claim that it is the funniest, most offensive musical of all time. Even if that is a pejorative, it is still an honor. Maybe Swearnet: The Movie will be known as the film that cursed the most, but I cannot see it holding a candle in the conversation. Of course, this is from somebody who isn't familiar with The Trailer Park Boys. Either way, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut more than satisfies its brief run time that doesn't even clock in at 90 minutes. It's short and sweet in all of the right ways.