Minor Spoilers:
I saw this with my boyfriend Saturday night. I'm not sure why this guy is so popular. I always felt like I was the only one that did not find “Ali G” funny at all. I get what he is doing, but it was just never funny enough, it seemed very contrived. Some people have told me "oh it's British humor" and you just don't get it. I kind of resented that blanket statement because I do enjoy quite a few British television shows and films. Though I do tire of the elitist sensibility I often find in it. That's why it's funny I guess, but it gets tired . In-it? Sometimes I need some stupid humor.
Anyways so I saw Borat! It was very funny and is more American than anything else. I told my friend it was a Ben Stiller gross-out film only done well, which is something I've longed for. As John Water's always says, “no one thought for one second that was real cum in Cameron Diaz hair” (Something About Mary). It was a stretch. In this film, we believe mostly everything we see. (Except the bear and the mockumentary).
The only major problem I had with the movie was the confusing presentation. At first I thought it was going to be shot like a documentary, and I think I saw the camera crew in some scenes. Anyways it doesn't make sense because Borat is obviously alone in some scenes. The suspension of disbelief is tough for anyone that understands film convention.
Also…there was a very uncomfortable scene where he insulted a woman that I thought was really cruel. It's funny, but in a way that probably really hurt her feelings.
If this film is a wake up call to Americans on how backwards we are, then that's really very sad. The jokes about racist Americans and ethnocentric thinking should (at this point) not be a surprise to any of us.
I was in an NYC audience and people were laughing at the conditions under which Borat lived. (Not the gags i.e. Horse-car). That's what the developing world really looks like, and it's not really that funny. A lot of the south and midwest looks like that too. This laughing made me wonder about irony and the making of this film. Borat really does get a jab in at everyone, even the snobs (NYC snobby audience.)
One more note, this character Borat isn’t all that original Andy Kauffman used to do a “foreign” character that confused people on SNL.
It’s good light fun though, I dunno what all the hype is about. It should have been an HBO special not a feature film. The trailers for the movie were not funny, they made it look really lame. The film “Hacking Democracy” should have been given a theatrical release instead.
Updated On: 11/6/06 at 12:28 PM
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