WARNING: If you are planning to go see Borat and you DON'T want to know anything about the movie, you should probably not read tonight's blog entry.
Now, for the rest of you...
It's now been a couple of hours since I saw the movie and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. The gist of the picture is as follows. Sacha Baron Cohen (sp?) created a character called "Borat" as a part of his British (seen on HBO in the states) comedy Da Ali G Show. Not too unlike what several SNL alums have done, the character has moved on to his own full length movie. Borat is a journalist from Kazakstan (sp?) who comes to the US to learn our "modern" ways in order to share them with the people of his country. He ends up spending most of the "documentary" making his way toward California and Pam Anderson, whom he has fallen in love with after watching Baywatch in his hotel room...oh, and after his wife dies in a bizarre accident back home.
A decent amount of the humor stems from Borat's cultural differences and complete clueless-ness about the United States. There is the usual "can't speak the language" gags. (An example being the title of tonight's blog which is what Borat says when he refers to sex.) What's interesting to see is how he uses this "language barrier" to create situations which allow some of the people he meets to crucifiy themselves with their own words. His innocent behavior opens a few doors.
Several of these moments are quite funny. He goes to a rodeo and just nods as an old guy tells him he should shave his mustache because it makes him look like a Muslim. The man keeps talking and eventually makes the comment that, in not so many words, gay men should be hung. It's a bizarre conversation. Later at the rodeo, Borat is set to sing the National Anthem. Before he does, he gets the crowd going by rattling off phrases in support of the war in Iraq. The crowd is hooting and hollering, but he takes it that extra step and declares that George Bush should be drinking the blood of those evil people in Iraq. The crowd is slightly less enthusiastic because they are slowing catching on to the obvious. We are a blood thirsty country, yet we often blanket our behavior in patriotic garb. It's a smack in the face which is only compounded when he decides to sing the Kazakstani national anthem to the tune of our anthem.
The lyrics revolve around Kazakstan being the best country in the world...and oddly, the best producer of potassium. The crowd boos, and in a moment that I'm not convinced wasn't set up, the woman who had ridden out on a horse holding the American flag suddenly appears behind him and her horse falls to the ground with her still on it.
I spent a good deal of this movie with my hands over my eyes, peering through my fingers. Remember, I am the person who enjoys the sight of a werewolf snacking on someone's entrails. Some of the bits are uncomfortable to watch, or atleast they were for me. Strangely, I made it through the soon to be infamous naked men fighting moment in the movie without looking away. Part of the gag is just how big the bar being used to cover Borat's bits was. Seriously, that man should be doing porn if it's that big.
There are a couple moments of what seemed like genuine connection in the film. Borat and his producer are driving in Atlanta trying to get directions to California. It's late at night and they are in an area of Atlanta that is set up as being not the nicest place in town. Coming up on a group of young black men shooting dice, Borat goes up to them and starts chatting. He eventually gets them to teach him to dress and talk "street." This encounter has hillarious results when he then tries to get a room at a hotel using his new language. The guys appeared to find Borat amusing and treated him like a lost child. Nice moment.
The second connection comes in the form of a prostitute Borat hires and then invites to an upper crust dinner party he is attending. He and his date get tossed out of the party then decide to go out on the town. They end up in a cowboy bar and procede to have a few drinks, ride the mechanical bull, and dance. At the end of the evening, he drives the woman back to her place and she invites him inside.
Now, Cohen is engaged to be married so obviously nothing is going to happen here. But the moment is really sweet. Borat becomes shy and tells her he is in love with a woman in Malibu (Pam A.) and it wouldn't be right for him to do anything right now. She tells him if he's ever in town to come check in on her. He smiles and says if he's ever back he would be happy to return and pay her for sex. She laughs and for a second you wonder if he'll even kiss her, but instead he gives her another shy smile and slowly makes his way off the porch.
The only downside of this moment comes at the end of the film. I won't give it away, but the ending made me question how much this woman was in on the joke as it were. I'm hoping she wasn't in on it. Or atleast, she wasn't when they went out on the town.
The only problems I had with the film were it's length. It's usually a stretch to take a character from a short skit on a tv show into a movie and I think there were a few moments in the movie that could have been cut because they don't really move the story forward or provide many laughs. It's as if they needed to toss in a few more bits to make a longer film.
The other problem stems from my own little self. I was never good at the crank call sort of thing. Any sort of comedy that revolves around pretending to be something you're not to create laughs at someone else's expense. I always felt too guilty to do a solid crank call. There are people in this movie that trap themselves with their own words and behavior. But, there are a few people who get caught who don't really seem to deserve it.
I will give Cohen big props for staying in character. There are two key moments when doing so put him in physical danger, but he sticks it out. Again, it's hard to tell how many people were in on the joke from the beginning. The moments with Pam at the end seemed somewhat real, but I read an article tonight where Cohen, as Borat, interrupted a "dog wedding" that Pam was having in Aug. of 2005. I'm not sure which moment happened first and whether or not she was in on either or them.
Ultimately, I'd say the movie is worth checking out. The laughs are there, but so are the uncomfortable moments. I don't think this is the funniest movie I've ever seen. I believe the South Park movie and Team America: World Police provided more laughs with the same sort of edge.
On the upside, I got to see a smack your head funny trailer for the Reno 911 movie that's coming out in Feb. And, I must admit, I am very excited about the new Bond movie as well.
Till next time. GO VOTE TUESDAY!!!!!!!!!
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