Mackaybre
11-25-2006, 02:51 PM
I saw this movie the 2nd night it came out, and I have to say, there were more people lined up for it than I expect were there for any other movie; It seemed to rival Star Wars. They were showing it simultaneously in 3 theatres for every single time shown in the listings.
I shat myself when I saw the lines after coming out of the showing I went to see.
As for the movie itself, I admit I did not laugh as hard as everyone else in the theatre. I found it shocking and a lot of the humour extremely offensive. This lasted until about a day after the finish of the movie.
It's a movie that is hilariously funny if you let yourself get past the initial shock and outrage. There are enough random spots of humour with no real "racial" connotations to it that I did enjoy a good chunk of the movie while watching it. This leads me to label Sacha Baron Cohen as Tom Green or Bam Margera with a common theme, and the luck to be doing it in a time which permits people to praise the work which is, in simplest explanation and interpretation a long string of racial, toilet, and misogynistic humour which is deplorable at best.
The whole "in my country" bit has been done by a lot of other performers, and my friends used to mimic The Frustrated Paki Tow-Truck Driver very well. ("ALWAYS BAD! ALWAYS!") I admit I found it hilariously funny in retrospect, as I came to recognize that much of the humour is presented in an environment of ignorance which is important in not being so ghastly offended by the jokes and the Atmosphere in the theatre. On the dark side of the coin, which is what prevented me, I believe, from letting myself go and really enjoying the humour, it is extremely deplorable what this movie says about popular culture. To think that such a large number of people may be plainly finding the movie hilarious, but not considering the implications of them finding it funny disappointed me greatly. A portion of me agrees with the conservatives who say there are lines you DO NOT cross and ways you just DO NOT treat people. A portion of me finds it infuriating and depressing at the same time that our society condones this kind of thing for the sake of humour, never mind condoning the actions themselves which was partly the demonstrative merit of the movie; that there are people everywhere who DO treat others this way and agree with Borat's views.
Call it a difference in outward personality, but, as funny as I found that movie in retrospect, I'm partly ashamed to be supporting it in any way shape or form. I'd suggest the movie to most of you, because I'm fairly sure that even if offended, you'll laugh. I do find it interesting that a lot of the angry viewers who take the moral crusade against this movie will deny finding anything funny about the movie. That's more nonsensical than this movie; I'm betting my Grandma would laugh at many parts of the movie if she could stand the grating offensive bigotist racist and misogynistic majority of the movie. Thick skins or desensitized minds are required to watch this movie.
The sense of humour presented treads the fine line that sorts the populace by personal bounds of decency and I think for me he crossed the line several times. It really isn't funny to keep pushing people to see just how far you can go before they stop being polite to you. Especially when that doesn't end the rudeness. It IS funny to me, however when you do silly things that get people to react honestly, that shake people out of their polite facade and elicit readable feelings about what they're witnessing. For instance, that Dinner scene was where I felt he crossed the line at pushing decent people too far. No spoilers if I can manage it, but you can clearly see in that section there was a significant portion cut out of that particular scene (No doubt other parts as well) and I honestly believe those people were cruelly insulted and embarassed.
I shat myself when I saw the lines after coming out of the showing I went to see.
As for the movie itself, I admit I did not laugh as hard as everyone else in the theatre. I found it shocking and a lot of the humour extremely offensive. This lasted until about a day after the finish of the movie.
It's a movie that is hilariously funny if you let yourself get past the initial shock and outrage. There are enough random spots of humour with no real "racial" connotations to it that I did enjoy a good chunk of the movie while watching it. This leads me to label Sacha Baron Cohen as Tom Green or Bam Margera with a common theme, and the luck to be doing it in a time which permits people to praise the work which is, in simplest explanation and interpretation a long string of racial, toilet, and misogynistic humour which is deplorable at best.
The whole "in my country" bit has been done by a lot of other performers, and my friends used to mimic The Frustrated Paki Tow-Truck Driver very well. ("ALWAYS BAD! ALWAYS!") I admit I found it hilariously funny in retrospect, as I came to recognize that much of the humour is presented in an environment of ignorance which is important in not being so ghastly offended by the jokes and the Atmosphere in the theatre. On the dark side of the coin, which is what prevented me, I believe, from letting myself go and really enjoying the humour, it is extremely deplorable what this movie says about popular culture. To think that such a large number of people may be plainly finding the movie hilarious, but not considering the implications of them finding it funny disappointed me greatly. A portion of me agrees with the conservatives who say there are lines you DO NOT cross and ways you just DO NOT treat people. A portion of me finds it infuriating and depressing at the same time that our society condones this kind of thing for the sake of humour, never mind condoning the actions themselves which was partly the demonstrative merit of the movie; that there are people everywhere who DO treat others this way and agree with Borat's views.
Call it a difference in outward personality, but, as funny as I found that movie in retrospect, I'm partly ashamed to be supporting it in any way shape or form. I'd suggest the movie to most of you, because I'm fairly sure that even if offended, you'll laugh. I do find it interesting that a lot of the angry viewers who take the moral crusade against this movie will deny finding anything funny about the movie. That's more nonsensical than this movie; I'm betting my Grandma would laugh at many parts of the movie if she could stand the grating offensive bigotist racist and misogynistic majority of the movie. Thick skins or desensitized minds are required to watch this movie.
The sense of humour presented treads the fine line that sorts the populace by personal bounds of decency and I think for me he crossed the line several times. It really isn't funny to keep pushing people to see just how far you can go before they stop being polite to you. Especially when that doesn't end the rudeness. It IS funny to me, however when you do silly things that get people to react honestly, that shake people out of their polite facade and elicit readable feelings about what they're witnessing. For instance, that Dinner scene was where I felt he crossed the line at pushing decent people too far. No spoilers if I can manage it, but you can clearly see in that section there was a significant portion cut out of that particular scene (No doubt other parts as well) and I honestly believe those people were cruelly insulted and embarassed.