With “Fahrenheit 9/11,” Director Michael Moore took on the Bush administration and their connection to the “War on Terror.” Leave it to Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators and clever minds behind “South Park,” to skewer everyone else with their latest, “Team America: World Police.” They are definitely equal-opportunity offenders, since they target everyone, with the interesting exception of President Bush himself. However, since the film is a laser-sharp commentary on Bush’s foreign policy and how America has become the renegade purveyor of Freedom, Bush’s camp is sure to get some of the shrapnel.

Although the film is done entirely with marionettes, don’t think for a minute that this is a children’s film. In fact, it’s far from it. A-sexual marionettes having sex in more positions than are available in the Karma-Sutra mid-film will clear that thought, as will the movie’s soundtrack which features such numbers as “America: F*ck Yeah!” and “Montage.” No, instead, this is Jerry Bruckheimer (“Pearl Harbor,” “Armageddon”) fueled machismo and over-the-top romance piled in heaps on top of biting satire and offensive humor. For some, that’s a recipe for disaster when everything doesn’t fire on all cylinders, but under the sharp eye of Parker and Stone’s direction, it works. Bottom line: “Team America” is funny as [heck] (this review has been edited for profanity by the MPAA, all involving puppets).

Since there are so many targets for the South Park boys to place in their crosshairs (along with Pam Brady, who shares writing credits), it seems almost fitting that the “stars” of the film are not really stars at all, but are instead an amalgam of past Bruckheimer film leads. “Team America” is a group of five individuals, Chris, Sarah, Lisa, Joe, and newest recruit Gary, a Broadway actor who studied Acting and Foreign Language, which makes him a perfect candidate for the team. Each member has their individual traits that make them useful to the team. For example, Lisa is the good-looking, mouthy blonde who falls in love with other team members, and Joe is the gruff-guy-who-hates-actors. See? Perfect casting.

The “Team” travels around the world, diffusing “terrorist” activities and tracking down those elusive WMD’s. Of course, they never seem to find any, but manage to destroy the entire surrounding country and bystanders in the process. The reason they can’t find the WMD’s is because that lonely leader Kim Jon Il of North Korea has them, and has recruited all of the sympathetic members of the Film Actors Guild to join his peace rally. Actors like Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn, and Tim Robbins, who all lend their support to a peaceful, ideal world. It’s up to Team America to save the day and show the world that Kim Jon Il is really a crazy madman bent on destroying the world.

Parker and Stone are right on top of current events, and don’t pull any punches. Stone particularly excels at song writing, and the lyrics rip just as hard as the dialogue. No, “Team America” isn’t a musical (save for one song, “I’m so ronry (lonely),” sung by Kim Jon Il), but the songs clearly accentuate the movie and produce some of the best laughs.

The fact that all of the “acting” is done by puppets is secondary, since the story and the writing are what carry you through the film. The only issue I had with the film is that it starts out as a spoof on Bruckheimer-type films, and ends up in a way becoming one itself by the end. But that doesn’t take anything away from the fun and the over-the-top humor. Any movie that will surely rank second to the great Monty Python film “Life of Brian” for the most disgusting vomit scene ever, and give you reason to laugh the whole way through it, is sure to give you other reasons to love it. With sympathetic actors, crazy world leaders, and Michael Moore blowing himself to bits, this is a movie you must not miss.