Let me first say that I thought the Ali G show was hilarious, which is one reason why I wanted to see this film. I also thought the trailer looked great and for the past two weeks I kept saying, "Hello, my namea Borat." (I still chuckle at that) So I wasn't one of these people who had no idea what Sacha Baren Cohen was about or that this was like Candid Camera's evil twin...I knew what I was getting into. I ended up leaving the theater not liking what I just saw though.
I'm not sure what Sacha's point of the movie is, so I'm going to critique it on what I saw. If we're supposed to watch this movie and laugh at Americans (which I'm all for, b/c we are some stupid, funny people at times) I ended up thinking we don't look too bad in this. From what I saw, Americans are nice to foreigners no matter how strange or rude they behave. We push all stereotypes to the side and treat them with respect. I felt the character of Borat used this against us.
The movie was also unoriginal to me. He made New Yorkers look like a-holes, southeners were racist, and frat boys drink. Wow...so new. I also found it interesting that he treated the black people in the film with respect and never poked fun at them, but Jews and Christians and everyone else was up for grabs. If he wants to make fun of America, he should make fun of it all. It seemed like he was just reinforcing the stereotypes Americans already have of their country.
If you have a seen the movie and would like to read a great satirical piece on it, check out this read from the New Yorker. This is probably the first time I've ever praised the New Yorker.
Save your money and rent this, and go see Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny. I love you JB and KG.
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