Review: ‘South Park (Not Suitable For Children)’ Skewers Influencers, Trendy Drinks, And Corporate Hypocrisy
by David Lewis
South Park (Not Suitable For Children) is the sixth in a series of long form specials that stream on Paramount+ and let co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone cram in more cultural references and not have to worry about cable TV standards.
The subtitle is no joke; Not Suitable For Children is even raunchier than other recent South Park productions, featuring almost non-stop full frontal male nudity and endless f-bombs.
This one tackles OnlyFans, lifestyle influencers who are desperate for clicks, and a deceptively healthy hydration drink called Cred with ridiculous “limited” flavors like “Big Boy Blueberry” and “Jelly Roll Midnight Waffle House.” The plot finds Stan’s dad, Randy, starting an OnlyFans account thinking he’ll find instant success. When no one watches his nude hijinks, he starts shilling for Cred, a Gatorade-type drink that Stan, Cartman, Kyle, Butters, and every other kid in town are addicted to. Cred is hilariously used to send up the very strange trend of drinks and drink containers being used as the ultimate status symbol, with Cartman double-fisting the fluorescent beverage while accusing other kids of being poseurs.
Stone and Parker use the two competing storylines to point out how the mega-corporations behind something like Cred are just as guilty as any tech company or media outlet for hypocritically insisting their product is solely for adult consumers while knowing full well that children will think of a way to access it. Of course, Parker and Stone also know that they themselves are guilty of this by making South Park in the first place, and they turn it all into an extremely graphic joke about online exploitation based on the lazy homonym of “minors” and “miners” (as in coal miners).
One major downside to the overstuffed narrative is that it focuses so much on Randy’s OnlyFans scheme and a hilarious Jake Paul-style influencer that the main kids are largely sidelined. The two plots end up feeling as if they’re competing for screen time, although they’re still thematically linked.
South Park (Not Suitable For Children) is executive produced by Parker and Stone, along with Anne Garefino and Frank C. Agnone II It is streaming on Paramount+ and will drop on Blu-ray on November 5th. Meanwhile, The End of Obesity, the latest South Park feature is also streaming and will be available on Blu-ray in December.