Poop Shute

Before I say what I'm about to say I want to start by first saying that I have always loved South Park and I think Matt and Trey are geniuses.

That said; I just saw the first episode that I felt truly and completely sucked.

I think it's called The Passion Of the Jew.

It's subject matter is obvious, I'm sure. But in case it isn't, click here.

Matt and Trey, like most of us with a higher than 6th grade reading level, were bothered by all the reduculous controversy and overblown hype surrounding it.

They were clearly trying to make a statement here, but they did a pretty crappy job.

First off this episode seems like its desperately trying to satirize EVERYTHING about this flick and everyone involved all at once and until they tell you the message at the end of the episode it gets entirely lost. If it is there, it's muddy at best.

Plus they are just downright mean to Mel Gibson. I mean, they have made fun of a lot of celebrities with a lot of cheap shots, but they just opened both barrels into him, and it didn't read as funny to me. With Mel it was just different from the usual South Park lampooning. How to explain this... ?

Okay, it's like the difference between watching Don Rickles make fun of someone in the front row for a good laugh and watching bullys in kindergarten beat some poor little kid while laughing their asses off. In Rickles case, he doesn't know the first thing about his target, and the person knows it's all in good fun, but the bully is enjoying the fact that he is causing pain.

They had Mel leaping around making "woo-hoo" noises like the earliest version of Daffy Duck. Meanwhile he's begging to be tortured and firing a gun all over the place. He actually strips down to his underwear and smears his own shit all over the walls. Usually when South Park makes fun of celebrities they do a clever job of zinging them and they save the potty humor for the kids in the show, but not with Mel.

To be clear, I am not a Christian, I do not agree with Mel's beliefs regarding religion, but I do respect those beliefs, and his right to believe them. I also respect the movie he made. Whether or not I believe any of it does not change the fact that the movie was heartbreakingly beautiful and emotionally moving.

Also, I'm usually the first to tell you there are "NO SACRED COWS" in comedy. That's an old comedy saying that smiply means everything and everyone are fair game for a good laugh. And I'm sure Matt and Trey thought they were being funny, but damn, man. The poor guy was slammed with so much serious criticism that it seems to have destroyed his love for film. I've read he has become like a hermit, shunning everyone, including old friends and coworkers. He almost never leaves the house except to go to church.

Mel was so overwhelmed with all the negative response to his film that he completely missed the great deal of positive reponse.

And with all this they have him dancing around, cackling, and smearing his shit everywhere.

Real nice.