Twenty years ago, I was fortunate enough to visit the set of “Team America: World Police,” an ambitious Jerry Bruckheimer-style action parody, starring puppets, for which Trey Parker and Matt Stone had constructed an enormous North Korean set out of cocktail umbrellas and take-out containers. Driven by equal parts obstinacy and nostalgia (for the vintage “Thunderbirds” TV show), it was the craziest thing the “South Park” creators had ever done.
Documentary on Trey Parker and Matt Stone Reopening Iconic Mexican Restaurant Casa Bonita Gets Trailer and Theatrical Release
That was before the pair decided to revive another guilty pleasure from their past: Casa Bonita, a beloved Denver-area Mexican restaurant, built by gringos in 1973 as an armchair tourist’s idea of 19th-century Acapulco. On the outside, a bubblegum-pink bell tower loomed tall enough to be seen across town, luring families to the retro fun park within. The food, which was mass-produced far from sight and pushed out through slots in the wall, tasted something like Taco Night at San Quentin.
Believe it or not, Casa Bonita belonged to a national chain, of which the Lakewood location was its crown jewel. The unlikely tourist destination (once Colorado’s most visited) closed for good during the pandemic, and rather than see their happy place destroyed, the “South Park” duo stepped in.
“The kid in me was like, ‘Hey, you want to buy Disneyland?’” Parker tells filmmaker Arthur Bradford in “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” (whose title is a riff on a classic Elvis number). A hilarious behind-the-scenes account of that ill-advised investment, MTV Documentary Films’ unconventional — and unexpectedly inspiring — makeover doc follows along as the pair sink millions into rescuing the crumbling landmark out of bankruptcy.
Bradford had been friends with Parker and Stone for years, ever since they exec produced his delightful “How’s Your News?” project a quarter-century earlier. Now, with no idea how this wild “What were they thinking?!” venture will turn out, he lets the cameras roll whenever the guys are in town, hoping for the best. The film is so casual, the footage isn’t always in focus. Still, compared with those slick fixer-upper shows on HGTV, that only makes success seem less assured.
For folks who’ve never heard of Casa Bonita, half the fun comes from discovering this low-quality, medium-concept, high-kitsch fantasyland that had so impressed Parker as a kid — an ersatz old-timey Mexican town conceived of equal parts imagination and bad taste. Built from the shell of an abandoned department store, the 52,000-square-foot food-and-games establishment suggested a cross between Chuck E. Cheese and a tacky Vegas casino.
Parker, who grew up in Colorado, first stepped foot inside Casa Bonita in seventh grade. Years later, he and Stone wrote a “South Park” episode around it, in which Cartman risks arrest to visit the restaurant. Kids loved it, Parker explains, because they were free to explore, poking around “haunted” caves or watching cliff divers plunge from a 30-foot plaster waterfall. The place even boasted a cast of original characters, including the bandit Black Bart and a guy in a gorilla suit.
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But that was all back in the restaurant’s heyday. By the early 2000s, it was falling apart. That’s the version Bradford observes, with duct tape holding the rug together and mystery ooze seeping from cracks in the walls. “Carpets and paint are going to go a long way,” Stone says during an early walkthrough, while Parker takes in the familiar smell, which he describes as “chlorine and beans.”
If the pair had realized just how much more the task would require — from redesigning that death-trap diving pool to overhauling the toxic-looking kitchen and cooling systems — they never would have done it. The movie is vague about where they get the funding, though it tracks the budget as costs swell from $6.5 million to twice the price of the “South Park” movie.
The locals, including Colorado governor Jared Polis, are delighted to know these unlikely investors aim to save the beloved institution. But they’re also skeptical, as evidenced by man-on-the-street-style interviews expressing concerns that these Hollywood types might “ruin” what had been so magical about the place. But everyone agrees on one thing: The food was abominable. So it warms the heart to see the new owners hire three-time James Beard Award winner Dana “Loca” Rodriguez, who remembers being turned down for a dishwasher position at Casa Bonita when she moved from Mexico in 1988.
In the decades since, the run-down establishment had become a joke to many. For Parker and Stone, the funny thing would be to see it restored to its former glory. It’s a task they take seriously, bringing their showbiz instincts to the restoration. When it comes to all those corny attractions, from puppet shows to the animatronic prospector Parker likes to imitate (barking “Tarnation!” as he tours Casa Bonita), it would be wrong to overhaul them completely. But the “South Park” duo know just how to make them entertaining. And that — plus much better grub — is a recipe for success.
“¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” opens in Denver on Sept. 6, then expands to other cities on Sept. 13. The doc will make its streaming premiere on Paramount+ later in the fall.
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