Amazon.com
A bit stale with cuss words and easy, mindless insults,
South Park, Volume 12 offers "Roger Ebert Should Lay off the Fatty Foods" and "Clubhouses," two decent episodes that will please fans but not necessarily convert newbies. "Roger Ebert" tells the story of the local planetarium, about to go out of business, and its manager hypnotizing school children in order to save it. There are some funny moments here, mostly within the subplot of Cartman auditioning for the Cheesy Poofs commercial, but the much better half of this video is "Clubhouses." Stan and Kyle race against Cartman and Kenny to build clubhouses in order to play truth or dare with girls. In the meantime, Stan's parents are bickering and suddenly divorce, and Stan must cope with the change while pressured by Wendy and Bebe to finish the clubhouse. This is a fertile story, pitting young, experimental attraction against old, tired relationships inside a hilarious script that pokes fun at resentments common to long-married couples and parodies divorcés and their new lovers. A strong episode that could've been just as amusing without Bebe's dull references to Kyle's butt.
--Karen Karleski
