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In his latest Future of Classic posting, amctv.com columnist Bilge Ebiri points out several similarities between G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Trey Parker and Matt Stone's puppet-animated Team America: World Police. "There are so many similarities between the two movies that it's almost impossible to keep track of them all," Ebiri writes. On a scale of 1 to 10 how likely is it that G.I. Joe writers Stuart Beattie and David Elliot never saw Team America? Just asking.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 10, 2009 at 7:40 AM

comment #1

Travis Crabtree says ...

That's funny.

Too bad I'll never be able to compare them as I will never in a million years see G.I. Joe. ("then how can you call it 'stupid' if you won't even give it a chance?!")

Watched TAWP for about the 20th time last week, (or at least a good chunk of it).
Funny thing is, I've never really been a huge Southpark guy, either. Liked what I've seen, just don't really watch it much.

Whenever they show Kim Jong Il I think of something Parker mentioned when the film was released. Kim, as you know, is a huge movie fan and probably sees more of them than any of us. He particularly enjoys current American product.
In other words, there is a very good chance he's seen this movie. How delightful it is to picture Lil Kim watching himself in puppet form singing "I'm So Ronery".

Posted by Travis Crabtree at August 10, 2009 8:19 AM

comment #2

GonePostal says ...

I will admit to seeing GI Joe. And yes, large chunks of the film, including the entire scene in Paris, were like a serious, live action version of Team America. GI Joe also had worse acting. Those puppets could emote, damnit!

Posted by GonePostal at August 10, 2009 8:44 AM

comment #3

chad_pole says ...

Irony = calling G.I. Joe "stupid" but Team America not.

Posted by chad_pole at August 10, 2009 9:23 AM

comment #4

actionman says ...

Team America was brilliant on so many levels...

Posted by actionman at August 10, 2009 9:24 AM

comment #5

corey3rd says ...

did Duke have to give the guy a BJ to join the GI Joes?

Posted by corey3rd at August 10, 2009 9:27 AM

comment #6

bluefugue says ...

>How delightful it is to picture Lil Kim watching himself in puppet form singing "I'm So Ronery".

That is a delicious thought.

Posted by bluefugue at August 10, 2009 9:54 AM

comment #7

bluefugue says ...

>Irony = calling G.I. Joe "stupid" but Team America not.

The "sad piano" arrangement of "America, Fuck Yeah!" that plays during the late-second-act Big Gloom is one of the best bits of satire I've seen in a movie in years.

Posted by bluefugue at August 10, 2009 9:56 AM

comment #8

Jonah says ...

Stone and Parker are the two most overrated, obnoxious bitches in the business.

Team America was lame. Brilliant? I don't see it.

Most South Park Episodes start out well but lose me in the second half. Family Guy is much, much better.

Posted by Jonah at August 10, 2009 9:56 AM

comment #9

Chase Kahn says ...

I watched Family Guy's "Blue Harvest" -- what a piece of shit.

"Great kid, don't get penis-y"

Awesome! How do they write this stuff???

As for "G.I. Joe" being compared to "World Police" -- I haven't seen the former, but just thinking about what I know about both films, the similarities are there.

Posted by Chase Kahn at August 10, 2009 10:03 AM

comment #10

Travis Crabtree says ...

"Family Guy"? Really??

"Hey, this thunderstorm and resultant power-outage reminds me of that time we participated in that Abba / Village People sing-along contest." (Cut to the cast singing "Macho Dancing Queen".... nostolgic pop-culture-reference laffs ensue)

Good call, bluefugue... the songs alone are the stuff of comedy legend.
I wish they had, (after removing the profane words, of course), floated a copy of "Freedom Isn't Free" to Sean Hannity before the release of the film. I guarantee he would've played it on his radio show. Imagine a few weeks later the song shows up in the film, complete with f-bombs, making it that much funnier.

Also, listen to the song "Montage" on its own. It is a PERFECT parody of synthy, 80's movie soundtrack songs.

Posted by Travis Crabtree at August 10, 2009 10:08 AM

comment #11

actionman says ...

South Park runs CIRCLES around Family Guy. Family Guy is the most overrated ANYTHING currently out there. The manatee/Family Guy episode of South Park was one of the funniest 22 minutes of television of all time. McFarlane should send Parker/Stone a check every week; all Family Guy consists of is South Park's sloppy seconds. It's so derivative of SP it isn't even funny.

Team America lambasted Hollywood, celebrity culture, action movies, and politics in a way that no movie had ever done and that no movie will ever try and do again. It's also got some incredible cinematography. Not to mention the technical brilliance of the marionettes. It really is a masterpiece the more I think about it; gonna pop that one in the DVD player tonight I think.

Haven't seen G.I. Joe yet so don't know about the apparently obvious similarities, but that bit with the Eiffel tower from the trailer had me recalling Team America with glee in my eyes.

"I miss you more than Michael Bay missed the mark...when he made Pearl Harbor...."

Posted by actionman at August 10, 2009 10:15 AM

comment #12

MikeSchaeferSF says ...

Actionman, I (heart) you. Seth McFarlane is the luckiest mediocre talent to become a millionaire since Ringo Starr. But at least Ringo understood that.

Oddly, American Dad is better than FG. More focused, better written. But the ads for The Cleveland Show look horrendous.

Posted by MikeSchaeferSF at August 10, 2009 10:22 AM

comment #13

LexG says ...

Hope this isn't too much of a tangent for JW's new "stay on topic" edict, but since it involves many of the pet themes around here of late (elitism, right vs. light, smart vs. dumb, and how politics clouds everything)...

Seeing TEAM AMERICA in a theater with an L.A., blue state, Westside, Hollywood, elitist, surely left-leaning audience was one of the more miserable ot at least movie-defeating theatergoing experiences of its era.

I saw it at the Grove in L.A., which even moreso then than now (it's since been overrun with ne'er-do-well, thuggish teens on weekends...) it's like the ultimate, along with the Century City AMC, moviegoing venue for industry types, Wells/Poland/Turan types, wannabe actors, flashy New Hollywood hangers-on, actors, etc.

I'm sure that crowd went in expecting some Michael Moore-style blitzkreig attack on the Bush administration and the laughable Americana tropes of Bay and Bruckheimer flicks and the supposed perils of unchecked jingoism... and sure enough the opening scenes and maybe AMERICA FUCK YEAH all got the expected big laughs.

But, man, any time Parker and Stone went off-book and dared to go un-P.C. in the OTHER direction? You could hear a pin drop in that fucking theater. All those potshots at elitist actors getting involved in the political sphere -- which probably make up 60% of the movie, much more so than the Bay-mocking stuff -- just NO ONE was laughing at that. It was like Parker and Stone had promised a lovely paean to the policemen of the world, then invited the boys in blue and sprung two hours with Ice-T and Body Count, circa 1993, upon them.

It was a packed, capacity crowd on an opening weekend Saturday night, and by the end the place seemed aggressively hostile toward the film, an audience that surely skewed 90% left completely mystified at all the "mean-spirited" shots at Hollywood and blowhard actors and the industry. And for such a progressive, "hip" crowd, the bit where the macho hero gave another guy a BJ probably set a pre-Bruno record for groans and walkouts.

Bringing this all back to "Hurt Locker," I'd go so far as to say "Team America," like "W.," like "Bruno" to some degree, is one of those ideologically complex movies that ends up falling "in between," and thus confounding a lot of its audience who fall so strictly one way or the other politically.

Just as "Team America" seemed like it'd be a lefty's delight taking cheap shots at Republican imagery, then turned out to be a scathing attack on idiotic left-wing celebrities... Just as "W." was expected to be this mercliless hatchet job by a conspiracy-minded leftish director but then turned out sort of complex and even affectionate, and in the process pleasing no one, because the libs were pissed it went easy, and the right-wingers would never pay to see their guy mocked, even if it wasn't what the movie was...

Sort of the same, on some level, with "Locker"... The elite, progressive, antiwar people are seeing it and are confused by its lack of preaching and by its macho tone and FUCK YEAH closing scenes. We can argue the intent of that final choice Renner makes in the film all day, but I can tell you anecdotally the Hollywood crowd I saw it with was scoffing and bitter about it (and surely it colored their enthusiasm for giving it good word of mouth.) With its heavy metal and hot dog, lone wolf imagery, I took it as heroic and awesome.

But the right-leaning audiences are so wary of "Hollywood," their sworn enemy, talking about the War AT ALL, like in ANY TERMS, that many of them won't go to see it no matter what.

Posted by LexG at August 10, 2009 10:23 AM

comment #14

MilkMan says ...

What actionman said.

Posted by MilkMan at August 10, 2009 10:25 AM

comment #15

Daniel Tayag says ...

After reading Wells's post, there's one thing I could only say: I can't wait for Ass: the Movie.

Posted by Daniel Tayag at August 10, 2009 10:43 AM

comment #16

Travis Crabtree says ...

Agree with actionman 100%. (I'll say it again....though I bust his balls on here a lot, I friggin' LOVE actionman... I'd fall on a grenade for him.... seriously)

I saw TAWP at the Grove when it came out. My buddies and I were laughing too hard to even notice what the rest of the audience was doing. (the brownies helped, too).

So far as the politics of it? Whatever. It's a comedy, and all I care about comedies is that they bring the funny.

I'm laughing right now as I recall the panther scene.

Posted by Travis Crabtree at August 10, 2009 10:43 AM

comment #17

The Winchester says ...

I was singing "America, Fuck Yeah" the whole time I watched the GI Joe. It just seemed right.

(Although during the final battle, I kept felt like I was watching a shot for shot remake of the finale of Return of The Jedi.)

That being said, the actionman post nailed it completely. As did LexG (controversial!)

Posted by The Winchester at August 10, 2009 10:44 AM

comment #18

Gogocrank says ...

On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely is it that G.I. Joe writers Stuart Beattie and David Elliot were the only writers?

Posted by Gogocrank at August 10, 2009 10:56 AM

comment #19

MC75 says ...

Lex G:

You say a lot of funny shit.

Sometimes, exaggeration is not a good way to go.

Like when you say that TAWP is "60%" mocking of left-leaning celebs, as opposed to ripping Bay/Bruckheimer a new asshole. That is straight bullshit and you know it. Either that, or you haven't seen TAWP since that fateful screening, and your memory has become rather warped.

You should check it out again, then check your flow. Later Skater

Posted by MC75 at August 10, 2009 11:31 AM

comment #20

televisiontears says ...

No one's gonna link to the G.I. Joe: World Police Trailer?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_To0caCXxqo

Posted by televisiontears at August 10, 2009 11:35 AM

comment #21

matt cousens says ...

this comparison has been being made for awhile now. a little late to the game, guys.

Posted by matt cousens at August 10, 2009 11:39 AM

comment #22

The Bandsaw Vigilante says ...

"Actionman, I (heart) you. Seth McFarlane is the luckiest mediocre talent to become a millionaire since Ringo Starr. But at least Ringo understood that.

Oddly, American Dad is better than FG. More focused, better written. But the ads for The Cleveland Show look horrendous."

All of these suck hairy baboon nuts compared to The Venture Bros., though.

Posted by The Bandsaw Vigilante at August 10, 2009 11:48 AM

comment #23

Rich S. says ...

This is a really bizarre chicken-and-the-egg piece. Wasn't America: Fuck Yeah! pretty much based on the original GI Joe, A Real American Hero song? I thought it was pretty obvious that the original GO JOE was one of the main inspirations of TAWP. Hell, the puppets even looked a little like the original 12-inch Joes.

So isn't comparing GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra to TAWP a little like shooting fish in a barrel?

Posted by Rich S. at August 10, 2009 12:29 PM

comment #24

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Yeah, Rich...I guess I was surprised that other people were surprised by this "connection."

TAWP was (obviously) a non-too-subtle satire on all things 80s action, so how is it such a shocking revelation that Rise of the Cobra looks and feels similar?

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at August 10, 2009 1:53 PM

comment #25

Josh Massey says ...

Speaking of awesome action, am I the only one who cares that today is the 25th birthday of Red Dawn (and the PG-13 rating)?

Oh right, around here, probably. WOLVERINES!

"Family Guy is much, much better..."

Gee-zus.

Posted by Josh Massey at August 10, 2009 2:01 PM

comment #26

Jonah says ...

Damn. A Michael Bay devotee and a few of the people I least respect prefer South Park over Family Guy.

I guess I should just change my mind.

South Park has good ideas, some funny dialogue, and good first halves. Their stories always run out of gas by the midway point.

One major exception was the episode ripping the Mormon religion. That was pure brilliance.

Team America just sucked. I don't care who they were making fun of. It doesn't make it quality.

Posted by Jonah at August 10, 2009 2:21 PM

comment #27

Jonah says ...

Oh, Massey. As you were ripping me for Family Guy you were also praising ( I assume) Red Dawn.

Gee-zus.

That movie was bad 25 years ago, is still bad, and a remake could only improve it.

Posted by Jonah at August 10, 2009 2:22 PM

comment #28

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Been awhile since I've Red Dawn-ed, but I remember really digging the concept and the places they could go with it, and ultimately being really disappointed with the execution of said concept, and watching all the places they didn't go with it.

I think the nostalgia factor is pretty high on stuff like this. You remember the one cool shot in the movie, or how you were able to trade for the Tim Raines Donruss baseball card right before watching it, so the even the title tends to give off good vibes.

Until you re-visit it.

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at August 10, 2009 2:34 PM

comment #29

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Got an extra "the" in there.

Nobody cares, I know. Just bothers me.

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at August 10, 2009 2:36 PM

comment #30

Ryansi51 says ...

yeah but sometimes it bothers everyone else when you reply again simply because you had an extra "the" in there, y'know?

just yankin' your chain Citizen, I'll trade you my Tim Raines Donruss for your Eric Davis Fleer.

Posted by Ryansi51 at August 10, 2009 3:21 PM

comment #31

filmdetail says ...

A side-by-side comparison of Team America and G.I. Joe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIiForGd5VE

Posted by filmdetail at August 10, 2009 4:47 PM

comment #32

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

But I really like Eric Davis!

Okay, okay...your Sheffield Sportsflix for the Fleer Davis, straight-up!

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at August 10, 2009 5:27 PM

comment #33

DeeZee says ...

Paramount also stole the vehicles from Sky Captain and the equipment from Aeon Flux, making me think the movie was just an excuse to recycle all the company's recent bombs, and slap it with a new title.

Lex: I think I laughed at those jokes, simply because I hate when Hollywood pats itself on the back.

Posted by DeeZee at August 10, 2009 6:50 PM

comment #34

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comment #35

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I like the GI Joe movie. I know a lot of people did not like it but i loved it.
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