Team America: World Police

Unspooled

Paul Scheer & Amy Nicholson

Film Reviews, Tv & Film

4.5 • 5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 April 2026

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Paul and Amy salute (and side-eye) Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s anything-goes puppet satire that took aim at everyone in the post-9/11 era. They unpack the film’s wild blend of Thunderbirds-style craftsmanship and Jerry Bruckheimer bombast, from its rapid-fire production to the army of puppeteers behind its explosive set pieces and yes, they discuss that infamous sex scene that pushed the MPAA to its limits. You can join the Unspooled conversation on Paul’s Discord at https://discord.gg/ZwtygZGTa6 Follow Paul and Amy on Letterboxd for more of their movie hot takes! https://letterboxd.com/paulscheer/ https://letterboxd.com/theamynicholson/ Paul’s book Joyful Recollections of Trauma is out now! Find it at https://www.harpercollins.com/products/joyful-recollections-of-trauma-paul-scheer Check out more of Paul's writing on his Substack https://substack.com/@paulscheer Episodic Art by Kim Troxall: https://www.unspooledart.com/ Learn more about the show at Unspooledpod.com, follow us on Twitter @unspooled and on Instagram @unspooledpod, and don’t forget to rate, review & subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or where you listen to podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The year is 2004.
0:04.1	All right, team, that's it.
0:05.4	We've got a job to do.
0:07.1	Let's go police the world.
0:10.7	America.
0:14.3	America.
0:17.5	Fuck yeah.
0:19.7	The movie, Team America, World Police.
0:28.4	Hello, everyone, and welcome to Unspooled.
0:36.3	Yes, welcome to Unspooled. This is a podcast about good movies, critical hits, welcome to Unspooled.
0:38.1	This is a podcast about good movies, critical hits, fan favorites, must-sees, and in case you missed them.
0:44.3	We have covered the AFI top 100, and now we are checking off movies from three major lists.
0:49.4	The Letterbox top 250 films with the most fans, the IMDB, top 250, and the New York Times, 1,000 essential films.
0:56.7	And Amy, we will also, as always, be chasing our own curiosity. That's right. Wherever we want to go,
1:03.9	we will go because we're rebels, we're renegades. I'm Paul Shear. I'm an actor, a writer, a director,
1:10.1	and I once worked with a puppet cat, and it was a nightmare. Did you really? What kind of a cat? It was for a TV show called Meow TV, and I mean, it was just a generic tabby. Oh, just some cat? Is that a kind? It is. It is. It is. When my boyfriend and I are jerks, we call them some cats.
1:28.8	But we also are aware that we're being total jerks.
1:31.0	This is just because we're assholes with Mankoons. We have Mankoons. We lord our Mankoons over. But that's totally unfair. The first cat I ever fell in love with was a little calico. Oh, look at that.
1:41.8	Well, I'm going to tell you this puppet cat was a real pain in the ass.
1:45.1	I believe it.
1:46.0	I mean, four legs, that's even harder than two legs. Oh, look at that. Well, I'm going to tell you this puppet cat was a real pain in the ass.
1:45.1	I believe it. I mean, four legs. That's even harder than two legs. I want to apologize again to all cats out there. I am the batty. I am the team main coon world jerk about cats. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I love all cats. I love every single cat. I go on walks and say hi to all the cats.
	...

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