Review: SOUTH PARK: THE END OF OBESITY

Overview

In SOUTH PARK: THE END OF OBESITY, the advent of new weight loss drugs has a huge impact on everyone in South Park. When Cartman is denied access to the life-changing medicine, the kids jump into action.

Our Take

For decades a number of jokes at Cartman’s expense have been about his weight but it’s something everyone can relate to. More than 200,000 cases a year are reported of people diagnosed with body dysmorphia and instead of promoting mental health causes here in America, we typically throw drugs at it, because THAT’S THE AMERICAN WAAAAAAAY!

The fact that the producers of South Park are even doing anything remotely to comment on prescription drug companies for a company who famously asked Andrew Santino to eliminate a joke about Ritalin in his Showtime stand-up comedy special because the standards & practices department were worried about what the companies might think, is astonishing in it’s own right, but then we also get stabs at the sugar, health/drug industries, and Lizzo in what Trey Parker may refer to as the “Stormy Daniels” of comedy tropes that can certainly be served on a present-day platter and be considered well fed.

For my money, this 50-minute South Park special might be one of the more movie-parody efforts I’ve seen in a long time from these guys. The Fast And The Furious, The Matrix Reloaded, and even the names of Cartman’s food buckets are very much lampooned here which comes to a head at the climax of the special event and does so beautifully. Not since The Imaginationland Trilogy has Trey Parker dipped into THIS bag of tricks to truly go nuts by integrating fantastical elements, like a crew of pissed off breakfast cereal mascots, into the plot of the show and does so in such hysterical fashion. For the car chase scene ALONE, SOUTH PARK: THE END OF OBESITY is worth the subscription of Paramount+ for one-month because it’s even better than most of the car chases in the new The Fall Guy movie that just released with Ryan Gosling.

That’s not to say there weren’t some loose ends. The bits featuring the American Health Care System and even the introduction of the aforementioned cereal characters had fantastic dialogue and were very well done, but albeit on the shorter side. With these specials, I can see the push/pull of how long a comedy special should be which is similar to what stand-up comedians go through so I can see where Matt and Trey are with the runtimes, though for my money, I think they had a bit more to say so I think the extra real estate could have still been valued. Cartman’s dream sequences were what everyone was talking about leading into the new special, and I think they may have one or two bits in it that may very well continue that trend so if you’re easily offended about this whole Pakistan/Israel nonsense that’s been going on in the news, this one’s gonna trigger you,personally I don’t have a horse in that ridiculous race to the bottom, but others might.

We’ve already had a busy South Park year for 2024 as we stare down the second half of it. Between the just released game, this special, home releases coming this Summer, and the impending fall season that usually follows with it another special, South Park fans are going to be eating good this year. If SOUTH PARK: THE END OF OBESITY is the overloaded sugary brunch of the year then bring on the spread!