�South Park� leavened by its subversive appeal June 30 By Martin Grove
Rudin report: It�s an advantage if movies have brand-name titles, but it presents marketing challenges if they�re not what people think they are. A case in point is Paramount and Warner Bros.� animated �South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut,� opening today in 2,128 theaters.
Presented in association with Comedy Central, the R-rated comedy is directed by Trey Parker. Produced by Parker and Matt Stone, it was written by Parker & Stone and Pam Brady and executive produced by Scott Rudin and Adam Schroeder. Based on Comedy Central�s hit series created by Parker and Stone, �South Park� has attracted some of the year�s best reviews. I didn�t think it would be my cup of tea, but I really didn�t stop laughing and thought it was great fun.
Rudin�s no stranger to good reviews, but is he surprised by the acclaim the film is receiving from hard-to-impress critics like those at Time and Newsweek? �I�m thrilled,� he told me. �It�s much more sophisticated than people think it�s going to be. It�s grown-up. It�s smart. It�s got a real idea at the center of it. It�s a musical, which people don�t know or expect it to be. It�s got the scale and the style of a feature movie. It�s not like a television show. For me, it�s very much along the lines of �Clueless� and �In & Out� and �The First Wives Club.� It�s that sort of high-style comedy, but with all the stuff fans really love about �South Park.� �
Nonetheless, �South Park� seems something of a stretch for Rudin. �Whole credit to Adam Schroeder, who showed me a copy of this movie Trey Parker had made about (Colorado cannibal) Alfred Packer, which was this musical about cannibalism done in the style of Rodgers & Hammerstein that I love,� Rudin said. �We made a blind deal with Trey to write and direct the script for us. By the time he got around to doing it, he was already doing (the series) �South Park.� When �South Park� hit and there was this notion of doing it as a movie, we already had this relationship with him, so it became a very easy fit.�
On the marketing front, Rudin said, �the first job was to target the fans and get the fans. And I think the fans are going to be there. The challenge now is to go beyond that, because it�s not just for �South Park� devotees. It cuts a much wider swath than just those who�ve seen the television show, because it really isn�t the television show. We started screening it (in mid-June) because that was really when it was finished. What�s been incredible is the number of people who have called and said, �I never watched the show,� or �I don�t like the show,� or �I always thought the show was for kids� ... �and I loved the movie. It�s the funniest movie of the year!�
�People I�ve only ever heard from about a movie like �The Truman Show� are calling and falling all over themselves loving the movie. I think it�s because it�s genuinely subversive. It doesn�t play at being subversive, it is subversive. I think it kind of explodes this whole idea of censorship. What people are loving about it is it seems like it was written about an hour ago. Because it�s animated, we were able to keep changing dialogue and making it completely to the minute.�
Martin Grove is seen Mondays on CNN�s �ShowBiz Today�and heard weekdays at 1:55 p.m. on KNX-AM in Los Angeles.