based on reviews from 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a "B" grade on an A+-to-F scale. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised the film calling it "A ruthlessly clever musical, a punchy political parody and the hottest look ever at naked puppets." Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Team America: World Police is to political commentary what lap dancing is to ballet. There is no room for subtlety. Aiming a rude, foul-mouthed political satire everywhere -- left, right and center -- Trey Parker and Matt Stone blow up a good deal of the world, not to mention the egos of many Hollywood personalities." Brian Lowry of Variety was positive about the satire, saying the film "goes the extra mile to piss off everybody — which includes gleefully destroying renowned Hollywood liberals, literally and figuratively" but less positive about other aspects of the film: "All told, the clever visual bits and hilarious songs don't entirely compensate for the many flat or beyond-over-the-top spells." Lowry praised the songs saying they "deliver the movie's biggest highlights" and he also praised the production design calling it a " true technical achievement, recreating a dizzying array of sets and costumes at one-third scale and clearly having plenty of fun doing so — down to using housecats as stand-ins for terrifying panthers." Richard Corliss of Time also highlighted the production "The real kick, however, is in the grandeur and detail of the production design, by Jim Dultz and David Rockwell." Kim Newman of Empire magazine called it "a patchy comedy that's stronger as a genre-mocker than a political satire." Roger Ebert gave the film 1 out of 4 stars and wrote: "I wasn't offended by the movie's content so much as by its nihilism", and was critical of the film's "sneer at both sides" approach, comparing it to "a cocky teenager who's had a couple of drinks before the party, they don't have a plan for who they want to offend, only an intention to be as offensive as possible." Contemporary and retrospective comment on the film has observed that it takes aim at militarism in the United States, and Hollywood liberals' response. David Edelstein, in a review for Slate, wrote "the movie is a stink bomb lobbed at American arrogance and overweening militarism." In The Village Voice, Michael Atkinson wrote "Madly Rorschachian, TAWP appears to rub