Intentionally Imperfect – A Review Of “The Simpsons Movie”

However certain it is that the long-hyped flash of Bart Simpson’s genitals contributes to a PG-13 rating for “The Simpsons Movie,” denizens of Springfield are ready to assess this moment in a way that hallmarks the show’s longstanding Juvenalian satire of our modern culture.
“Stop in the name of American squeamishness!” protests a Police Chief Wiggum in pursuit. “I like men now!” comments his son, Ralph, in parody of that national puritanical fear that the slightest glimpse of an animated boy’s lamp of life (or even, GASP, Janet Jackson’s nipple) might transform all our pre-teens into pansexual blood-traitors. That notion is ironic, indeed, considering that the film drives home the importance of the family unit. Its message, so says writer Al Jean, is that “a man should listen to his wife,” and somehow this, even crudely drawn (“intentionally imperfect” as creator Matt Groening described), does not fail to jerk tears at moments.
Recognizable to almost any American, and enjoyable particularly its heathens, the film’s tone is irreverent critique, as Jean once remarked, with “a liberal bias.”
For example, who among local Campaign Virginia canvassers won’t be able to sympathize with Lisa’s door-to-door environmental crusade and take exception to those put off by it?
What civil libertarian will not be beside himself with glee at the sardonicism when Marge insists to her daughter, “It’s not like the government is listening to everyone’s conversation”?
What long-standing Bush derider won’t recognize the worst of her commander-in-chief in a fictional President Schwarzenegger as he asserts mechanically, “I was elected to lead, not to read”?
Who resenting Halliburton’s real-life war profiteering will not bitterly chuckle at the disingenuous excuse of EPA head Russ Cargill (voiced by Al Brooks) for quarantining the polluted Springfield with a giant glass hemisphere? “It was the last thing we wanted to do,” he snivels, “but I own the company that makes the dome.”
What infidel of supernaturalism won’t ejaculate a Nelson-esque “HA-ha” at Ned Flanders’ praising intelligent design upon encountering a waste-mutated squirrel with 50 eyes and razor sharp teeth?
What gun control advocate won’t grimace and nearly sob laughing at the obese police chief’s nearly blowing his motor cortex away as he attempts to gobble donuts from the barrel of his revolver?
The conventional wisdom during pre-production was that a 16-year sitcom, once a primetime dynamo, was continuing a slump into the abyss. A team of eleven weathered writers would have to pump out a full-length script that would live up to the reputation of the show’s golden years. Virtually everyone in English-speaking world knew the characters, the premise, the 2.5 kids, the doting wife, and the simpleton food-monster dad. However worn out the television series was becoming, crafting the full film, particularly for long-time (or long-ago) fans must have been a nerve-racking task. The result is as funny as any single season can be generally considered. 20th Century Fox succeeded at least financially, the film having achieved the biggest debut ever for a television adaptation.
Given that the team has never executed an hour-long plot, daresay the 87 minutes attempted here, it is simply a cool spectacle unto itself to see the mere attempt at pulling it off.
Although this film was made and released far later than it should have been, if you have sat down for all the episode premiers of any season, the flick is definitely worth time in the theater. If you have only tuned in to that extent since 2000, after which the show has been a hit-or-miss of Saturday Night Live proportions, the theater only maybe warrants a visit.
If you have never invested that much time in the show (Have you been on the moon, Rip Van Winkle?), the nine dollar ticket is a serious gamble.