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TEAM
AMERICA
At points hilarious and idiotic, "Team America" is, like the duo's signature Comedy Central series, both refreshing and tiresome with its crude humor. In the press notes for the film, Parker and Stone say they intend to do with "Team America" what they do with "South Park" - make fun of everyone. Here the most obvious target is Hollywood. When Team America, a crack unit of the international police force headquartered in Mount Rushmore (literally), needs a secret weapon to stop a worldwide terrorist attack, they attempt to recruit a Broadway actor named Gary Johnston to help the cause. Along with Joe, the all-star quarterback from University of Nebraska; Chris, the top martial arts expert from Detroit; Sarah, the top clairvoyant from Berkeley; and Lisa, a renowned psychology expert from Princeton who specializes in terrorist thought, Gary is recruited to act his way into the terrorists' hideout, gaining their confidence. After Team America destroys much of Cairo in an attempt to foil the global terrorist plot, the Film Actors Guild (F.A.G.) -- run by the "best actor in the world," Alec Baldwin - attacks the group publicly. Then, when the terrorists destroy the Panama Canal in response to the destruction in Cairo, Gary starts to question whether his acting is helping the world or hurting it. All the while the malevolent dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong Il, is planning an elaborate scheme to destroy the world with a massive arsenal of WMDs. Will Team America be able to foil his plan? Will F.A.G. stop Team America? Aside from delivering a plethora of images involving puppets cursing, screwing and drinking, all of which provide ample laughs (except perhaps for the screwing part, which as Bill Mahar notes, 'if one wants to watch wooden sex with strings attached, get married!) "Team America" boasts a number of wonderful musical numbers. Like the uproarious songs featured in the film versions of "South Park," the songs in "Team America" are a delight. Highlights like Kim Jong Il's solo, "I'm So Lonely" (which is pronounced by the diminutive dictator 'I'm So Ronery'), show how witty Stone and Parker can be in their very juvenile way. Though Stone and Parker are intent on mocking U.S. foreign policy in the broadest sense of the word - by indicting our country's self-decreed status as, well, the world police -- they're most interested in demonizing outspoken Hollywood stars. Much of the second half of the film focuses on Team America's attempt to stop F.A.G. actors like Tim Robbins, Helen Hunt and Sean Penn from inadvertently helping Kim Jong Il. While it's refreshing to mock stars that may preach politics a little too loudly from their soapbox, like Penn and Robbins, it's a wonder why the filmmakers should demonize Helen Hunt and Samuel L. Jackson. Simply because actors are in the spotlight does not make them uninformed citizens, nor negate their rights to expression, even though the larger irony is, as Johnny Depp recently put it, 'why anybody would be interested in what an actor has to say in the first place?' When
Parker and Stone start making fun of people and situations just for the hell of
it, "Team
America"
veers off course and loses its bite. That said, the rest of the time, these
little puppets make for some naughty laughs in the able hands of their
creators.
In director Taylor Hackford's treatment of the life and times of the soul crooner - who melded gospel with rock and roll and brought a new sound to popular audiences - the star of the show is Jamie Foxx's striking performance as the blind musical genius. A longtime coming, Hackford has supposedly been shopping the idea of a movie on Ray Charles around Hollywood nearly 13 years ago. The realization of Hackford's struggle is a rags to riches tale about a man whose genius was his saving grace and his biggest curse. As with most stories about rock stars - whether they're feature films or made for TV movies of VH-1 ilk - there's plenty of philandering and drug use. Following his meteoric rise to stardom from his poverty-stricken childhood in the South to the time he spent playing little clubs in the 1940s and '50s as part of a band, "Ray" pulses along with its best asset: the subject's music. Flashing back to its hero's tortured childhood, which included the untimely death of his younger brother and his own inexplicable blindness (which happened at age seven), "Ray" flows between past and present as Charles attempts to exorcise his ghosts through his music and reckless drug abuse. A heroin addict since his days as a lonely outcast on the road, Charles struggles with the needle and women as he beds a steady flow of girls while away from his devoted wife and children. "Ray" does a fine job visually articulating Charles' genius, thanks in large part to Foxx's brilliant performance. Looking, moving and sounding uncannily like the deceased icon, Foxx channels the former blues man best when he's behind the pianoŠwhere it counts the most. As the film chronicles Charles' steady roll of musical achievements and innovations -- as he melds soul, gospel, blues and even country into mainstream rock and roll -- Foxx consistently lights up the screen while playing the singer's trademark songs. Though "Ray," isn't very unexpected, innovative or even subtle, it is entertaining. Structured in a familiar that begins with the rise to fame segues into the fall from grace and culminates with the return to glory, Charles' story is thankfully a rich one. As a man who defied odds, overcame bigotry and changed popular American music forever, Charles is no doubt worthy of the glossy film treatment. Touching on the darker sides of his life and personality (namely his drug abuse, extra-marital activities and vanity), "Ray" finally opts for a more celebratory and optimistic take on the star.
Perhaps it's apropos then that the best part of the film is the music because
it's there we get the fullest glimpse into the anguish, hope and brilliance that
made the man a legend.
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