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I have not laughed that hard for such a prolonged period of time in a really, really, REALLY long time.

I went to see "Shaun of the Dead," and "Team America" in the same night. Good for the stomach muscles, I'm tellin' ya...

"Shaun of the Dead" is a working class, modern day British homage to "Night of the Living Dead," and it's one of the funniest movies I've seen all year. Simon Pegg (Shaun) was absolutely brilliant. It has it's TOTAL gross-out moments... the entrails part of "Night of the Living Dead" was nasty in black and white... imagine it in full color, close up. NAH. STY. But it was also so cartoony that it was hard to get *too* grossed out, although my friend and I did have to cover our eyes through most of it. But we're kind of wimpy.

Besides the obvious "eeeeewww" factor (that honestly constituted about 3 minutes out of the whole movie), it's a brilliant social commentary in a completely different, yet just-as-effective wayas "Night of the Living Dead" was. If that makes sense. "Night of the Living Dead" was more about racism and possibly the fear of communism, and "Dawn of the Dead" was blatently about mass consumerism. "Shaun of the Dead" is more about how we kind of wander through our lives so wrapped up in our own petty little issues that we completely miss what's going on in the world around us until it's really too late. That, and modern living turns us all into zombies, really, going through the same routines every day.

Only funny.

And my beloved Martin Freeman makes a very brief cameo, so that made me happy.

Anyway, if you're not squeamish about a few moments of cartoonish gross-outs, you must see this movie. It is just hilarious.

When we headed back to the theater for "Team America" about an hour after the movie ended, we thought nothing could be as funny as "Shaun of the Dead." Oh were we wrong.

"Team America" was so funny, tears were streaming down my face... and that rarely happens to me. It's a total send-up of horrific 80s big-budget action movies and a cutting satire that attacks the right AND the left, all at the same time. There is very little on this earth that is funnier than Gary's hork scene. My stomach is sore, my face is sore... it was just unbelievable. The ballad version of their anthem, "America! Fuck Yea!" is one of the funniest things I've ever heard in my life. And they made Kim Jong Il into a North Korean Cartman, basically. I thought it was going to kill me, I really did.

Basically, Trey Parker and Matt Stone wanted to see marienettes get the shit kicked out of them, have sex, hork, and say "balls" a lot, so they created a movie around it.

I should say, if you don't like "South Park" and you didn't like "South Park, the Movie," you won't like this, so don't waste your money. I happen to love both, so it was well worth it.

I wouldn't say "Team America" topped "Shaun of the Dead" though. They were two such different movies, with two such different styles of comedy, that it's hard to compare them. They were both hysterically funny, though, so I guess there's that. I think "Shaun of the Dead" will have to be one of those movies I buy when it comes out on DVD. Oh hey! There it is!