Matt Stone Movies

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone try their hands at high-school comedy in this Important Pictures production penned by screenwriter Jeff Roda. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A young filmmaker eager to document an unexplored element of the contemporary music scene achieves auditory enlightenment while discovering the duality of existence in director Les Claypool's seamless mockumentary. Electric Apricot is a band for the ages. Fearless in their musical experimentation and never afraid of breaking new ground, the band seeks to achieve a higher consciousness through music. When an aspiring documentarian sets out to prove there's more to modern music than the charts would suggest, what he discovers is a musical universe teeming with unbound creativity and limitless potential. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

For anyone who has ever felt genuine fear while pondering what's really in that oddly shaped chicken nugget they're about to consume, director Lloyd Kaufman offers a simultaneously horrific and hilarious parody of the zombie genre that takes on the one thing scarier than the flesh-eating legions of the undead -- America's love affair with fast food. Arbie (Jason Yachanin) is a nostalgic romantic with little luck in romance and a bad case of puppy love. When Arbie's high-school sweetheart, Wendy (Kate Graham), returns home after her first year of college, the lovelorn teen attempts to win the object of his affections back by taking her to the site of their first romantic encounter. Unfortunately for Arbie, the ancient Tromahawk Tribe Indian burial grounds have been bulldozed to make way for an American Chicken Bunker restaurant, and Wendy has turned into a left-wing lesbian with a penchant for protesting.

Subsequently beaten to a pulp by Wendy's rough-and-tumble girlfriend, Micki (Allyson Sereboff), and in desperate need of a steady job, disgruntled Arbie applies at the Chicken Bunker despite the fact that Wendy and Micki have launched a tireless campaign against the restaurant. But something supernatural is stirring in this poultry paradise; the spirits of the dead are not pleased that their eternal slumber has been interrupted. As the employees of the American Chicken Bunker begin dying a series of increasingly gruesome deaths, restaurant owner General Lee Roy (Robin L. Watkins) does his best to cover up the scandal and keep his customers in the dark. Meanwhile, the restless demons of the Tromahawk tribe vow to take revenge on the fast-food-loving masses by infecting every last piece of genetically modified poultry that is served at the Chicken Bunker. Perhaps if Arbie can prevent their curse from reaching beyond the drive-through window, he can save the world from a fate worse than trans fat and finally win back the girl of his dreams. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In a rare and refreshing reversal of roles, filmmakers put the powerful Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA for short) under the microscope for inspection in Academy Award-nominated director Kirby Dick's incisive look at stateside cinema's most notorious non-censoring censors. Compelled by the staggering amount of power that the MPAA ratings board wields, the filmmaker seeks out the true identities of the anonymous elite who control what films make it to the multiplex. He even goes so far as to hire a private investigator to stake out MPAA headquarters and expose Hollywood's best-kept secret. Along the way, Dick speaks with numerous filmmakers whose careers have been affected by the seemingly random and sexual-content obsessed judgments of the MPAA, including John Waters, Mary Harron, Darren Aranofsky, Wayne Kramer, Kevin Smith, Matt Stone, and Atom Egoyan. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The most tasteless third graders on television graduate to the big screen, as Trey Parker and Matt Stone expand their animated series with foul-mouthed humor that might breach the boundaries of basic cable. In the small Colorado town of South Park, good-natured Stan Marsh, slightly neurotic Kyle Broflovski, fat and petulant Eric Cartman, and perpetually doomed Kenny McCormick are psyched for the premiere of the first feature film from flatulent Canadian TV performers Terrance and Phillip, entitled "Asses of Fire." The movie is rated R, but that's not about to stop the boys from sneaking into the theater. However, when the boys' language gets bluer by the minute after seeing the film, their parents and school administrators decide that something must be done. Kyle's mother comes up with the ideal solution: blame Canada. Terrance and Phillip end up in jail for corrupting America's youth, while the Canadian Air Force retaliates with an air strike targeting the Baldwin brothers. The boys soon organize a children's underground resistance force to free Terrance and Phillip before they can be executed; meanwhile, in a sensitive subplot exploring relationship issues, we're permitted an inside look at the domestic problems of Satan and his lover, Saddam Hussein. As on the TV show, Parker and Stone perform the voices of most of the characters, and they also wrote several songs for the film; George Clooney, Minnie Driver, Eric Idle, Dave Foley, and Mike Judge contribute voices. Not to spoil the plot, but rumor has it that Kenny dies. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

David Zucker directed this slapstick sports comedy starring South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Competing two-on-two against some basketball jocks, goofballs Joe Cooper (Parker) and Doug Remer (Stone) attempt to win by devising new rules while they play. Thus is born the bizarre game of "BASEketball." Rules: Court position decides whether a sunk basket counts as a single, a home run, or whatever; the opposing team can retrieve missed shots. Verbal abuse is allowed. Ditto for gross-outs -- or anything to annoy the shooter. The game becomes popular in driveways, so sports promoter Ted Denslow (Ernest Borgnine) proposes a deal to form a pro league. Dallas Felons owner Baxter Cain (Robert Vaughn), hopes to increase revenues with product placements and pro endorsements, but he needs the okay of team owners. Ted dies during the season finals, leaving Cain to deal with his widow Yvette (Jenny McCarthy). However, Ted willed the team to Cooper, who must win the upcoming season or ownership goes to Yvette. Cameos by Bob Costas and Al Michaels. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Originating as (of all things!) a video Christmas card in which Jesus Christ duked it out with Santa Claus, the Comedy Central cartoon series South Park was one of the most outrageous and irreverent adult cable series of the 1990s and beyond -- not to mention one of the funniest. Created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the series took place in the tiny, somewhat inbred village of South Park, CO, where there dwelt a quartet of potty-mouthed fourth graders: sensible but nervous Stan Marsh; neurotic and self-flagellating Kyle Broflovski; fat, obnoxious, and thoroughly me-oriented Eric Cartman; and parka-wearing Kenny McCormick, who never spoke above a mumble -- and who (during the series' first five seasons) was invariably killed off in a grisly manner in each episode ("Oh my God! They killed Kenny! You bastards!"). During season six, Kenny was assumed to be permanently dead, and his place in the foursome was taken by prissy Butters, who openly resented being the obligatory "TV series replacement regular." When Kenny returned in season seven, his "deaths" were far less frequent; reportedly, the producers were sick of figuring out new and unique ways of knocking him off. Though the kids were repulsive, they were none too good for the adults of South Park, who included the whiny, sexually ambivalent schoolteacher Mr. Garrison; Cartman's pushy, hermaphrodite mother, Liane; Kyle's loudmouthed, activist mom, Sheila; and the very stupid police chief Barbrady; and "Mrs. Mayor." The only grownup worth his salt (and pepper) was ex-soul singer "Chef" McElroy (voiced by Isaac Hayes), though his position in South Park as moral authority and the voice of reason was compromised a bit by his overactive libido.

Animated in a deliberately crude, jerky fashion (though brilliantly timed and paced), and featuring characters who resembled kindergarten cutouts, South Park took pride in butchering every sacred cow and toppling every icon known to conservative and liberal alike. The individual episodes managed to find laughs in such otherwise risky topics as homosexuality, mental and physical handicaps, child molestation, AIDs, anti-Semitism, Alzheimer's, global warming, and the war in Iraq. By being an "equal opportunity offender," the series managed to take both sides and no sides in every issue. Also adding to the hilarity were the occasional "guest" appearances by badly drawn (and voiced) celebrities, with Sally Struthers, Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck, Mel Gibson, Saddam Hussein, and especially Barbra Streisand among those mercilessly skewered. In addition, the series poked big holes in its "competition," the equally raunchy Beavis and Butthead, by introducing a pair of flatulent cartoon Canadians named Terrance and Phillip. Debuting August 13, 1997, and churning out between 13 and 18 episodes per year, South Park was the archetypal "You Either Love It or You Hate It" cartoon show -- but the majority of viewers loved it! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi