The Borat Thread

[Cory Chaos]

I caught it this afternoon and was mildly amused. Honestly, it was too unbalanced to seem credible. Both the movie and the character, that is. Some funny quips, some shockingly ignorant remarks, and some immature attention grabbing moments to create controversy and sell tickets.

[ruiner]

I must be in the minority because I don't see what the big deal is over Borat.  Granted, I haven't seen the Ali G show so I must be "in the dark" in regards to some of the jokes/character but from what I've seen in the trailers, it's simple slapstick humor.

Take an immigrant, throw him in NYC and watch the craziness ensue! 

Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just not my cup of tea.

And I could be totally off base with my observations; if so, just ignore me.

[CaptainYoda]

I am right there with you Ruiner. I saw like ten minutes of this movie back in comic-con in July. And they showed the entire fight with the big fat naked guy. It wasnt funny at all. Just gross. I have no interest in seeing this movie. Its like a one-note act.

[Matt]

I must be in the minority because I don't see what the big deal is over Borat.  Granted, I haven't seen the Ali G show so I must be "in the dark" in regards to some of the jokes/character but from what I've seen in the trailers, it's simple slapstick humor.

Haven't seen the flick yet (was supposed to go last night--going next week instead), and I agree that there are some bits in the trailers which look a little slap-sticky (antique store scene, I guess--which looks hilarious to me).  But from what other stuff I've seen of Mr. Sagdiyev, the humor comes from playing on the naivety a lot of people have about foreigners--which usually either results in some candidness (uncomfortable for the viewer) or awkward silence, and those types of things don't translate to teasers and trailers very well.

It could go either way for people, though, I guess--depending on their sense of humor.  I had my mom watch the OKC segment, and she didn't get it, and didn't like it because he was making fun of unsuspecting dumb people (or people who should otherwise know better).  But that was the very reason that my dad ate it up with a spoon (and incidentally, he liked it so much that he wants to see the movie, too).

Anyway, here's a couple of segments I really love (both from season two of Da Ali G Show):

Wine-tasting in Mississippi (okay, so that's somewhat slapsticky)
Learning Country and Western Music (that too)   

To me, that's comedy gold, but I know it's not everybody's cup of tea.

---

(Where's Franklin?)

[Vator]

Hell yeah in Dallas.  Dallas is in TEXAS afterall.

Right, but Dallas is a whole lot more urbanized than, say, Columbia or Greenville.*

Anyway, I really want to see this movie. I had intended to see it last Sunday, but those plans fell through. Caught Borat on the Daily Show last week, and I was fairly amused throughout.


(*Though I do realize that it's a logical fallacy to equate urbanization with progressive thought.)

[Clone Commander]

Me and my friends are going to see it on friday  .

[Tracy]

I guess it was bound to happen.  A couple of dumbasses decided to sue because Borat made them look like racist/sexist morons.

[Clone Commander]

OMG!
It is the funniest movie of the year!
Me and 5 of my friends went to go see it, it was hilarious, I loved the bear in the ice cream truck. 

[Artoo]

I'm going to see it soon, I just finished "Da Ali G Show". I hope after Bruno Ali gets his own reality movie.

"This is racilist!" 

[Sprry75]

I don't know what you mean by "reality," but "Ali G Indahouse" came out in 2002.



I've never seen it, but from what I've heard, it doesn't have the interactions with real people.  Maybe that's what you meant by "reality."

[Scott]

I saw Borat last night.  I don't think I've ever laughed as hard as I did during the naked wrestling scene.  That was comedic genius.  There were some definite slow parts but overall it was great.  It just urks me that America has grabbed hold of something I've loved for the last 5 years.  Just like they did with Coldplay

[Rob]

Whatever dude, I was listening to Muse way before you were.   

[Matt]

I don't think I've ever laughed as hard as I did during the naked wrestling scene.

Finally saw his moviefilm last night, and hands down that one scene is the funniest one I've ever seen in my whole life.  Everything else was pretty good, but that scene. . .  holy ****, it was worth the price of admission alone.

[DoctorPadawan]

I went to a matinee showing of this yesterday and I haven't laughed that hard at a film in years.  One woman actually got up and walked out during the hotel room wrestling match; a walkout by an incensed patron from a movie that people knew would be offensive beforehand is always a sign of quality to me. 

As for the frat boys, it really seemed like they had to be made to talk like that.   

The most disturbing thing to me is the number of ignorant comments made by people who obviously weren't in on the joke.  I live reasonably close (a few hours) to the location of the rodeo in the film and that oh-so-charming guy with his hanging commentary before the show, and that really bothered me.  I mean, Borat's a character, but that guy was not a character.  The only redeeming fact for him, the frat boys, and the guy with the collectible store (classy bumper stickers, btw) is that now the entire country knows what ******** they are.   

[Darth_Anton]

I always new that there were some sad, messed up people in this country. Then I saw Borat. I don't if I was laughing so hard because of how ridiculous the gags were (in a genius way) or because the "Gaged" actually live in the same country as I do. 

One of the funniest movies I've ever seen. And I'm willing to bet that over half the people who see this movie and think it's brilliant, miss the point of it entirely.