RATED R
DISTRIBUTED BY Universal Pictures
DIRECTED BY David Zucker
STARRING Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Yasmine Bleeth, Jenny McCarthy, Robert Vaughn
REVIEWED BY Bob Smithouser
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BASEketball
Hollywood humor has gone from lowbrow to no-brow. Modesty and political correctness are out. Bodily functions are in. In fact, gross-out scenes from BASEketball give families some indication of the lengths to which filmmakers will go for a laugh ... or a retch.
The nauseating, R-rated shenanigans in this film don't just push the envelope, they crumple it up and set it on fire. How low do they go? Brace yourself.
When it comes to prurient prankishness, no duo is hotter with adolescents than Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of the cable TV series South Park. The pair star in BASEketball, the story of two guys who invent a new sport that actually encourages trash-talking opponents to the point of distraction, usually by shouting obscenities or using disgusting props. During one contest, Parker pretends to drink liposuctioned fat out of a plastic bag. Elsewhere, Stone squirts milk from his chest and flashes a T-shirt sporting a couple engaged in anal sex. Enough said.
Parker told Entertainment Weekly, "As soon as we advance into beings evolved enough to speak freely about farts and barf and anuses, this stuff won't be funny anymore and we'll move on to higher-minded topics. Until then, we're just capitalizing on America's immaturity." Their next foul film, scheduled for release in October, is about a porn-star superhero named Orgazmo. An R-rated South Park movie is also in the works.
Gross-out scatological humor aside, BASEketball callously mine for laughs at the expense of terminally ill children. This meanspirited sniping suggests a PC backlash by comedy writers. The gag gun is loaded and the safety is off. It would appear that anyone—and anything—is now fair game.
