The movie will make you laugh pretty much from one end to the other and through the credits too. Don’t leave early. I liked it but I did think it was just a two-part episode thrown together on the big screen. All your favourites are there, though there are so many you will find most don’t speak for lack of time. Matt Groening has said that there will be at least another hour of cut stuff on the DVD. Sure, it was a bit slow in the middle, but many movies are. I was hoping for a work of art, but what I got was one of the better Simpsons episodes ever made. And on reflection, that isn’t half bad.
Spoilers aplenty so don’t read on if you care about that.
In a tribute to Austin powers we see Bart skate through town, naked as the day he was born. And we finally see the yellow veg-n-fruit as it were. Very anti-climactic, so to speak. And pricelessly funny. Almost as funny as Spider-Pig which sounds stupid but in reality, makes you laugh in spite of yourself.
The big shocker is probably Marge actually swearing. A character dies but I won’t put that here and it is said that will carry to the TV series.
There are sight gags all over the place. And I mean everywhere. Fox News crawls. Tributes to old episodes (electrocuting fish, jumping gorges, wrecked ambulances). You know you’re in for it from the opening credits when Ralph comes out and hums the 20th century fox fanfare. And later he comes out again.
There’s a story to the movie, but it’s utterly incidental for the most part. All they want to do is set up gag after gag. From President Schwarzenegger to rush to get every single character in the film, including one of my favourites Fat Tony. The credit showed that even Kang was in it, but I missed his cameo. Green Day and Tom Hanks both have appearances as well.
And of course, Maggie speaks her second word. Everyone saw the first episode where she said Daddy. Now she says another word which will be inherently obvious by the time she says it.
There’s some political stuff to. The President picks plan 3 at random, choosing to not even read them, saying ‘I was elected to lead, not read.’ The head of the EPA is named Cargill. Cargill also happens to be the name of an international conglomerate of food, agricultural products as well as risk management products and services.
The family separates for a while and it seems they are doomed to remain that way until they die (death being imminent). Happily, BTW, Bart does not say “cowabunga” at any point.
Enjoyed seeing it with the crowd: Evan, Erin, David, Kathy, William, and Timmy — after breakfast naturally.