Borat
Director- Larry Charles (Lots of Sitcoms)
This was a pretty funny movie. I laughed very very hard. The EW cover that said "Is this the funniest movie ever?" was a little off of course. It was not that funny. I would say slightly below Spinal Tap or Bad Santa but a good level above the finest of Adam Sandler dumb comedies. For those of you who live in a cave, Borat is the creation of the Cambridge educated British comedia Sacha Baron Cohen. He is an idiotic Kazakhstani reporter sent to America to explore a foreign nation. Borat's humor works by verbally and physically stumbling into situations where the ignorance of Americans is clearly on display.
The movie is a little bit dumber than the show on HBO was. Borat was one of three characters on Cohen's Da Ali G Show. Some of the scenes in this movie are played more for gross out than sharp political humor. Those toilet humor scenes are less effective because the rest of the movie demonstrates just how smart Borat can be.
Borat is sexist, racist, and pretty much any -ist that is bad that you can think of. His behaviors are more telling about the nature of America than the nature of Kazakhstan of course. Whenever his sexism or racism is greated with encouragement or tacit support it hits you a little bit in the gut. Many say that you could not make Blazing Saddles today because the content seems so racist. I think perhaps its true that getting a studio to greenlight it would be difficult. But if this movie does well, I think there is hope that transgressive comedy that is really offensive can continue to reign.
This was a pretty funny movie. I laughed very very hard. The EW cover that said "Is this the funniest movie ever?" was a little off of course. It was not that funny. I would say slightly below Spinal Tap or Bad Santa but a good level above the finest of Adam Sandler dumb comedies. For those of you who live in a cave, Borat is the creation of the Cambridge educated British comedia Sacha Baron Cohen. He is an idiotic Kazakhstani reporter sent to America to explore a foreign nation. Borat's humor works by verbally and physically stumbling into situations where the ignorance of Americans is clearly on display.
The movie is a little bit dumber than the show on HBO was. Borat was one of three characters on Cohen's Da Ali G Show. Some of the scenes in this movie are played more for gross out than sharp political humor. Those toilet humor scenes are less effective because the rest of the movie demonstrates just how smart Borat can be.
Borat is sexist, racist, and pretty much any -ist that is bad that you can think of. His behaviors are more telling about the nature of America than the nature of Kazakhstan of course. Whenever his sexism or racism is greated with encouragement or tacit support it hits you a little bit in the gut. Many say that you could not make Blazing Saddles today because the content seems so racist. I think perhaps its true that getting a studio to greenlight it would be difficult. But if this movie does well, I think there is hope that transgressive comedy that is really offensive can continue to reign.
posted by Paul Johnson at 11/07/2006 05:17:00 AM 
4 Comments:
I think Bad Santa is the most over-rated comedy of the 21st century. Discuss.
This movie is stinking hysterical. I haven't laughed thios much since Little Miss Sunshine.
Let's just say that even today, in a world full of satire, irony, and fake news shows, some people are still really stupid. It's a real tribute to the lasting power of publicity.
You think Bad Santa is overrated? Are you serious? The film is undoubtedly hysterical. Two scenes
1) Draw me a sketch, motherfucker!! I'm 4 foot fucking 2! How am I supposed to to move this body by myself?
2)The now deceased John Ritter confronting Billy Bob Thornton about his escapades in the women's clothing department. Hilariously awkward. And it sounds to me like you are trampling on a dead man's legacy.
Yea Borat was good at exposing idiocy. That old piece of Henry Krips' where he talks about how overidentification needs publicity- BOOM
Paul, you beat me to this post. Extremely funny film; I should blog this soon. But now, it's time to watch election returns.
This movie was awful. I enjoy Sacha Baron Cohen, but this depiction of Borat feel well below his role-playing on the Ali-G show. As stated above, Borat is funny because of the way he is able to poke fun at and expose the ignorance of people. The movie would have been great if that was the case. The crappy plot left a lot to be desired. This movie would have been better served to have a format like Jackass--a compilation of smaller scenes without the need for some forced, ridiculous, and distracting plot.
Post a Comment
Go Back to Main Page