The Simpsons Movie

Twenty years of waiting and expectation captured in an 87-minute film. The creators of one of television8217;s most successful shows 8212; all those ever associated with it over 18 seasons, 400 episodes 8212; certainly didn8217;t set themselves an easy task. But touching all the bases which make the Simpsons as silly and intelligent a venture, the movie books itself a permanent place in the history of the series.

About a President Schwarzenegger not really bothered with the fineprint, about his close advisor with strong corporate interests, about decaying environment with a film presented by Lisa titled An Irritable Truth and about on-the-spot responses which include enclosing Springfield in a glass dome and bombing it into oblivion 8212; The Simpsons Movie unequivocally wears its politics on its sleeves.

The full frontal by Bart on a dare by Homer, one of the film8217;s most-talked-about scenes, is perhaps its zaniest and most carefree. The other time the film comes close to it is when, fearing that a disaster is about to strike, people in a church rush to a bar, while the people in the bar hide inside a church.

Typically for the Simpsons, both are brief moments, saying a lot: the first about a time when parents didn8217;t trail their kids with a lens, wondering which event in their childhood would end up on a shrink8217;s couch; and the other about our own pretences.

Centred around an environmental disaster triggered by an irrational act by Homer, this is overall Homer8217;s film and his relationship with his family, with a fair bit surprisingly of Mr Flanders thrown in.

There is a poignant scene in which Marge, fed up of Homer8217;s erring ways, decides to leave him. She records over their wedding cassette to leave a message for him: 8220;Everyone asks me how I can live with you, look past your flaws. I always tell them because8230; That8217;s it. I don8217;t know how to end that sentence anymore.8221;

But this is the same Marge who earlier, in the film, rushes inside her burning home to retrieve that wedding cassette. It is another matter that on her way out, she pauses to clean the only dirty plate lying in the sink.

Those few brief seconds perhaps tell you all there is to know about the woman with the blue, impossibly piled hair.

And all about why one of America8217;s most well-known dysfunctional families functions just right in the things that matter the most.

If you are a Simpsons8217; fan, you wouldn8217;t want to miss this one.