What happens when the political satire of “South Park” collided with the story of a child at the age of Muslim age in post-September 11 New Jersey? You get the animated sitcom “# 1 HAPPY FAMILY USA”.
Cocreated and Coshowrun by Ramy Youssef and Pam Brady, the A24 production, which will be presented Thursday on Prime Video, follows Rumi Hussein (expressed by Youssef) and his family as they sail in paranoia “See something, say something” from the early 2000s.
The semi-autobiographical story of the Egyptian actor, actor and director Youssef is at the center of this vintage comedy where Michael Jordan, musical piracy and Britney Spears always dominate the news. Everything is normal in the world of Rumi, 12, September 10. He crushes his teacher Ms. Malcolm (expressed by Mandy Moore – which went to glory in the 2000s). He tolerates the absence of his Egyptian immigrant parents, Father Hussein (also expressed by Youssef) and the Salma Mother (Hindy Salma). He fights with his perfect / closed / closed sister, Mona (Alia Shawkat). His devoted grandparents also live at home, always at hand to ensure that Rumi feels Haram.
But within 24 hours, al-Qaeda attacks transform the Husseins of an average dysfunctional family with unhappy names in a suspected terrorist cell.
“# 1 HAPPY FAMILY USA” follows the story of a Muslim boy.
(Video premium)
The father of Rumi, a doctor who became the owner of Halal trolley, goes overdroduce to prove that his family is 110% American and absolutely associated with anyone who named Osama. Old glory, Christmas decor and Easter trim suddenly appear in their front courtyard. He shaves his beard. He insists that his wife stops wearing his hijab, who makes Sharia law, who is a receptionist for an eccentric dentist (Kieran Culkin), he is all the more determined to put on his scarf.
Meanwhile, Rumi's classmates now have it there, despite his attempts to integrate with the other boys by wearing his new basketball jersey. But the “Bulls” Bootleg's “Balls” shirt instead of “Balls”. There are also three too large sizes and looks like a dress. Obviously, he is not like the others.
The elements of history reflect Youssef's childhood montages in his Hulu series “Ramy”, but the adult animation medium allowed him to “unleash” with the story and the characters. He was also able to work with Brady, an authority to push animated satire to hilarious extremes.
“Animation has become the vehicle of the way this idea should live. I wanted to look at a completely unexplored period apart from the objective of a cop or news drama … and go to the wildest extremes with locals, “said Youssef. “I really had the desire to do something stupid in a really brilliant, sophisticated and almost Commemia dell'Arte way. Just stupid and strong (laughs). You can put` `ramy '' in a category of dramatic and you could, to a measure, put '` mo' ', but here, it is really open in a limits. Then, the name of Pam is mounted.
Brady has collaborated with Trey Parker and Matt Stone on “South Park” since the start of the show, continuing to check with them the film “Team America: World Police” And Cocreting The Netflix Comedy series “Lady Dynamite”. “As soon as I saw” Ramy “and I saw his stand-up, I was a fan,” said Brady. “I continued to beg my manager:” Please, can I meet Ramy? ” So I came to things as a fan, knowing that this guy made things from the next level.
Mona Chalabi, Ramy Youssef and Pam Brady are the creative forces behind “# 1 Happy Family USA”.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
The illustrator and executive producer Mona Chalabi designed the characters, each returning to the animation styles of the late 90s and the early 2000s as “Futurama” or “Daria”.
“I wanted it to look like a band found,” said Youssef. “You do it and it seems that it could have been on Comedy Central or MTV (at the time). It is an animation drawn by hand and we did it with an animation studio in Malaysia (called Animasia). It is an all Muslim animation house, which is so crazy. But we even downgraded our computers here in order to do it as it would have been done.
Adds Brady: “We wanted to make sure, especially with the visuals and the direction and the rhythm, that the spectacle was familiar. That you had seen a show like this before. We did not want to reinvent the form, but we did not want to make it look like “Family Guy”. So it's like, “Oh, this show existed in 1998. You remember, right?” “”
Although the show takes place about 25 years ago, it is not difficult to see the resonance of the intrigue today following deportations and gusts of immigrants and students. The Husseins are against a wave of Islamophobia, triggered by the September 11 attacks. They embody the very real fear of being profiled by the outside world, including the agent of the FBI Dan Daniels (expressed by Timothy Olyphant), who lives on the other side of the street. A dark period, of course, but also a rich comic value if you are ready to go as does “# 1 HAPPY FAMILY USA”. His characters burst into singing when they are about to be swept away by internal security, or, inadvertently, cause generalized panic by falling on the carpet at the airport to pray when they learn the terrorist attacks.
“We were trying to create this time capsule, like around the old DHS of this moment,” said Youssef. “But at the moment, it's a moment when an immigrant family, and surely a Muslim family, would feel the need to shout:” We are n ° 1! ” HAPPY FAMILY USA! Pam and Mona and I all looked with it, “Whoa”. Each time, this thing could have fallen, it is falling right now, when (it is difficult) to joke about these kinds of things in any other medium. “”
At a time when everything looks like a cruel joke, “# 1 Happy Family USA” bites with the satire we need.
