South Park: The End of Obesity (2024) Review

RATING: 6/10

ABSURDITY has returned to the world of South Park as Trey Parker and Matt Stone bring about another parody-fuelled streaming event, with the core subject this time around being The American healthcare system, fad diets, and how they affect patient's ability to access the care they so desperately need. Back in 2021, the South Park studio managed to revive a dragging franchise with the Post Covid series of streaming events; not realising that they had stumbled upon a goldmine for both South Park and Paramount. Now in 2024, we have reached The End of Obesity: a charming dive into how people should view body positivity, and while it does offer plenty of hilarious moments, there isn't nearly as much substance in this streaming snack when compared to events prior.

The streaming event parodies the real-life Ozempic epidemic: a prescription drug intended only to be used by those who suffer from type-2 diabetes, but is being abused by those seeking easy weight-loss, resulting in a national shortage. News of the drug reaches South Park as mothers within the town form a secret group dedicated to getting their hands on the weight-loss drug. As a result, patients suffering from obesity and diabetes are denied access to the prescription drug, causing outrage amongst Cartman (Trey Parker) and the other kids. Having had enough of Cartman's constant cries for help, Kyle (Matt Stone) conducts a plan to create their own variant of semaglutide to get Cartman the help he so desperately needs - and make a little money on the side. But when news of their plan reaches America's largest sugar manufactures, the boys begin to make enemies that they could have never predicted.

Meanwhile, Randy begins to have a problem with the way her daughter starts dressing at school, believing she is dressing too inappropriately. This leads him to fall in with the mother's group and their new weight-loss drug. Despite only wanting to hang out with these "MILFs", Randy and his new crew eventually begin to rob pharmacies to get the drugs they crave, leading him to start doubting his actions. This all (somehow) leads to a hectic highway chase scene where the kid's and Randy's stories collide, with various cereal mascots attempting to murder our favourite South Park characters in what is an entertaining finale that caps off with a much-needed lesson about the healthcare system and how it continually screws over its cliental in what was a clever call-back to the kid's initial attempt to navigate the American healthcare system during act one's aptly-named song "Navigating The American HealthCare System".

Despite there being plenty of highlights spread across the special, they are only sporadically featured within The End of Obesity, resulting in what is the weakest streaming event South Park has made so far. Standout jokes include an alternative weight-loss drug being named Lizzo: a clear-cut reference to the singer of the same name, Cartman's imagination of taking the weight-loss drug, and all the jokes involving the American Healthcare System. Most of the stuff involving Randy, unfortunately, falls short in this special, but his involvement across the 60-minutes is kept to a minimum as this isn't truly a story about him this time around, but instead one about Cartman and his self-image: a decision that saved what could have been a disaster of a special.

But at the end of the day, The End of Obesity just ends up being another forgettable streaming event for the studio to tick off their bucket list. It will be interesting to see what the team comes up with next, but it's going to have to be something truly game-changing to recover from this lacklustre run of mediocrity.