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Team America: World Police
Paramount Pictures


8.1

based on 38 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 169 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R

Starring Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Elle Russ, Stanley G. Sawicki, Kristen Miller, Dian Bachar, Josiah D. Lee, Paul Louis, and David Michie

This action adventure from the creators of "South Park" features an all-marionette cast as Team America, an international police force dedicated to maintaining global stability. (Paramount)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Adventure \| Comedy
WRITTEN BY:	Pam Brady Trey Parker Matt Stone
DIRECTED BY:	Trey Parker
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 17, 2005 Video: May 17, 2005 Theatrical: October 15, 2004
RUNNING TIME:	98 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Film Threat Rory L. Aronsky

Laugh hard, laugh long, but just laugh at true greatness. Parker and Stone have done it again, multiplied millions of times.

100

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Wickedly funny and devilishly subversive. It is satire at its most fearless.

100

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Who's going to love it? Anyone with a sense of humor: Team America: World Police is hands-down the funniest movie of the year.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

Bottom line: It's hilarious, vicious, offensive, thoroughly profane and a joy to watch, just like you'd expect. Be sure to sit through the end credits for a bonus song from Kim Jong-il to Alec Baldwin.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A ruthlessly clever musical, a punchy political parody and the hottest look ever at naked puppets -- the first film, porn included, in which a woody is actually made of wood.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

It turns out that puppets can tell us more about who we are as a nation than the most meticulous documentary. In Team America: World Police, the potty-mouthed, crazily brilliant musical from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the result is hilarious, shocking and bound to offend nearly everyone.

Washington Post Hank Stuever

This is all terrifically nasty and shocking stuff.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Clever comedians that they are, they have also rigged Team America with an ingenious anti-critic device, which I find myself unable to defuse. Much as it may pretend otherwise, the movie has an argument, but if you try to argue back, the joke's on you.

Slate David Edelstein

I laughed all the way through Team America: Scene by scene, it's uproarious.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

The first hour of the movie struck me as being truly inspired, and I haven't laughed so hard all year.

USA Today Claudia Puig

When Team America works, it falls squarely into the category of guilty pleasure.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

I was amused more or less throughout by the ingeniously designed and executed stunt that is Team America.

Time Richard Corliss

The real kick, however, is in the grandeur and detail of the production design, by Jim Dultz and David Rockwell.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Years from now, Team America will better convey the political character of 2004 than a stack of Time magazines. Staying funny helps even more.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

There is no room for subtlety. Aiming a rude, foul-mouthed political satire everywhere -- left, right and center -- Trey Parker and Matt Stone blow up a good deal of the world, not to mention the egos of many Hollywood personalities

Variety Brian Lowry

Goes the extra mile to piss off everybody -- which includes gleefully destroying renowned Hollywood liberals, literally and figuratively.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

You're guaranteed never to have seen anything like it; objectively speaking, it's a wonder.

Premiere Aaron Hillis

Wisely unbiased-but also unfocused, uneducated, and underachieving-which makes for an occasionally hilarious, frequently anemic parody that misses its opportunity to permanently document a scathing critique of current events.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Stuck between point-blank ridicule and the obligations of a weary plot. Surprisingly, more than an hour of watching marionettes fight, curse, and fornicate turns out to be as dull as watching Michael Dudikoff do the same thing in one of his unremarkable soldier movies.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Give it an A for concept -- a bizarre marionette version of a Jerry Bruckheimer-style action movie; B for its occasional moments of convulsively funny comedy; and D for the politics, for pandering to exactly the kind of reactionary sentiments it purports to satirize.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

This movie is more of a curiosity than a fully formed motion picture.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Bits can be extremely funny. I howled at the ranting, mustard-splotched, wiener-waving Michael Moore.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Egregiously vulgar satire on terrorism, global politics and Hollywood action movies gets an immeasurable boost from its wonderfully designed, old-school string puppets.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

The puppets are anatomically correct and politically incorrect. They provide 45 of the funniest minutes I've spent at the movies this year.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

Team America's strengths are in its musical numbers, especially Kim Jong Il's mournful "I'm So Ronery" (translation: "Lonely"), a heartfelt peek into the dictator's soul.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

I know this sounds like great fun, and some of it is, but there's nowhere near enough good stuff to fill the 114-minute running time.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Yes, it's inventive, yes, it's out-there and audacious, but no, it's not always as funny as those good things would lead you to hope.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

Accomplished yet uneven feature.

Empire Kim Newman

It makes for a patchy comedy that's stronger as a genre-mocker than a political satire.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The result is undeniably offensive and occasionally very funny, but the gags fall flat as often as they hit their mark.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

This is hysterically funny in parts, but most of the laughs are raunchy or scatological--always a sure bet when puppets are involved.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The net effect is a barrage of jokes that strain to be outrageous - just as the marionette gimmick strives to be different - but wind up canceling each other out.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Juvenile yet compellingly smart humor.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Proves that marionettes can be as foul-mouthed and profane as their cartoon counterparts, but not nearly as clever.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Team America is at once grandiose and tacky, elaborate and deflationary.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

Team America, for all its outrageousness, is the first work from Parker and Stone that I'd describe as a failure of nerve.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Surprisingly, the results are embarrassing. As puppetry, Team America is stilted. As satire, it's gutless and lazy. And as comedy, it barely delivers laughs.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Like a cocky teenager who's had a couple of drinks before the party, they don't have a plan for who they want to offend, only an intention to be as offensive as possible.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 169 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Steve W. gave it a10:
Loved everything about it. The only actor that I feel should have been included that didn't make it was Barbara Streisand...one of the most egotistical, vocal self righteous actors/entertainers of them all. Would have loved to have seen her impaled by something outrageous or eatin by a bird or something. Guess you can't have it all.

Gerrick C. gave it a9:
Thunderbirds meets South Park. That is esentially what Team America is. It is very funny, extremely offensive, and totally reeks of South Park. If you like South Park, then you will find love in Team America.

Jabez M. gave it a10:
This is one of the funniest movies ever. While not for the easily offended, it has great appeal for everyone else. The music is brilliant, the political satire is spot on, and the attacks on all types of political correctness are relentless. Just when you think they cannot take a gag further, they go ten steps beyond. Completely over the top and hilarious. Bravo!

Steve E. gave it a4:
Funny-ish first time, but has NO replay value AT ALL. Plus it's too popular, that also wrecks it.

Gareth C. gave it a10:
What an irreverent but brilliant film. Making this film must have been awesome. What a lot of fun. The script was inspired and the music was hilarious. I have watched this movie a few times now, and always find something new to laugh at. There are some parts I anticipate in the film and can't help laughing before it even happens. A brilliant masterpiece - even the title is spot on! More of this stuff please.

Michael C. gave it a10:
For someone very interested in world affairs, but not a fan of South Park or puppets, I was very skeptical of this film. Brilliant and hilarious, this film is an equal opportunity satire of both conservatives and liberals. Most of the "offensive" material actually uncovers unpleasant truths underlying the attitudes, people and state of our world. Highly recommended for anyone with an open mind about exposing (by hilarious ridicule and hyperbole) the polarized nature of our present social and political environment. An extremely entertaining film for the "juvenile" mind that also provokes thought about our world for the "mature" mind.

B. S. gave it a2:
When I heard about the movie I thought it sounded great, a good old piss take aimed at the people who deserve it most , indeed I was most excited to see it. Sadly it was terrible. The visuals were quite stunning but the script was appaling, jokes were thin and even the spoofed plot could've been written by a thirteen year old. C'mon guys how cab "everybodys got aids aids aids" be funny, I'm not saying I was oofended but compared to memories like 'good aids, bad aids" from Brass eye it was terrible. A shocker.

Team America: World Police Paramount Pictures

Team America: World Police
Paramount Pictures