Matt Stone makes abrasive children worth listening to without making them lovable. We rate the voice work most when the writing gives their bad behaviour a purpose, as it does in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
Fi1m perspective
In South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999), Kyle and Kenny are abrasive children, even when the adults give them plenty to complain about. Stone, who voices both, does not soften them to secure our sympathy. That is the useful thing about his acting here: we can defend the children without having to find them adorable. He suits a film that expects us to tolerate people we might prefer not to sit beside.
The television series South Park (1997–) established that combination of crude animation, topical jokes and voices supplied largely by Stone and Trey Parker. The partnership makes Stone difficult to discuss as an actor alone: he also helps write, direct and edit the programme. There is live-action acting alongside Parker as Doug Remer in BASEketball (1998), but the animated children give us the clearest reason to pay attention to him. Team America: World Police (2004) takes the shared writing and voice work into puppet filmmaking. With Parker and Robert Lopez, The Book of Mormon (2011) extends the musical side into theatre.
The feature's screenplay, by Parker, Stone and Pam Brady, understands how quickly concern for children can excuse adult aggression. We laughed at the adults' mounting fury over a forbidden film, because their certainty makes their behaviour more ridiculous. Parker voices Stan Marsh and Eric Cartman, giving Stone equally abrasive company. The simple animation denies the grown-ups much visual authority, which supports what the writers are doing. The songs also give it something worth returning for when the surprise of the swearing has worn off.
The reservation is that the toilet humour sometimes outstays its welcome. Stone's willingness to sound objectionable is useful, but it cannot make every crude joke worth keeping. We value the feature's specific complaint about blaming entertainment for social problems, and wish a few more of the crude jokes served it. That distinction matters for Stone, whose acting is so closely tied to the material he helps make. Start with the feature, and allow for a few toilet jokes too many.
Biography
Matt Stone is an American actor, voice artist, writer and producer. Born in Houston, Texas, he studied at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he met his creative partner Trey Parker. Together they created the animated series South Park (1997–), in which Stone voices characters including Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick and Butters Stotch.
Stone and Parker made early independent films such as Cannibal! The Musical (1993) before the success of South Park. On the feature South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) Stone is credited as writer and producer and voices Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, Saddam Hussein, Butters Stotch and others. Their later projects include the film Team America: World Police (2004) and the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon (2011).
Stone has won multiple Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on South Park.
