Is it funny? And, is the humor intelligent or just silly? I’ve seen a few clips from it-it loks like a decent comedy film.
You can check out clips from the HBO show on Youtube. I really doubt it would be much different from that. The reviews are in the 90s on rottentomatoes.
Saw it. Loved it. The entire theatre gave it a standing O afterwards. There’s a nice mix of lowbrow (fat naked guy) and insightful (guys terrified by the idea of being kissed by a man, racist/sexist frat boys) humour. Pretty much genius all around, and thoroughly enjoyable (I was a big Ali G Show fan before, but even I wasn’t certain Cohen could sustain a movie).
FYI, it doesn’t open until tomorrow.
I respect an artist who never breaks character in his public appearances. Ali G, Borat – does he have any other characters? Just wondering where he could go next.
There’s still Bruno. And there will be a Bruno movie coming out at some point.
Going tomorrow can’t wait!
Yep. 20th Century Fox just bought the rights to it and paid a crapload of money.
It should begin filming in 2007.
Bruno has the potential to create some even more explosive situations than Borat. People make somewhat of an effort to be polite to Borat but Bruno provokes some insanely violent reactions, especially in the segements that have been shot in the south. The homophobia shown in the Bruno segments is frightening.
He actually did the Daily Show once as himself. It was a couple of years ago. But you’re right that it’s rare.
It doesn’t open here until tomorrow. I’ve already got tickets for the first evening show.
I’m pretty sure he did an NPR interview out of character as well.
He also does all of the commentary on Da Ali G Show dvd’s out of character. It’s fascinating to hear him talk about how he came up with the characters and what not.
It’s almost jolting how different his real personality is from any of his characters. He’s Oxford educated, very intelligent and well spoken, very interested in discrimination and civil rights issues (he says in his NPR interview that he did his thesis at Oxford on Jewish involvement in the American civil rights movement) and he’s an observant Jew.
Why?
Briefly caught a bit of him in character on The Daily Show last night. Heh, definately interesting enough to make me want to see the movie, although I do wonder if you’d get worn out after a coupe of hours of his high energy schtick. For some reason, he reminds me of Kaufman. I’ll be interesting to see how his career develops. Right now, he’s fairly compelling.
I love Bruno. Looking forward to that. Borat feels a little 'sploitation but I’ll check it out.
Ali G makes me uncomfortable. It seems to me he makes fun of people who just want to help him. When he comes on, I switch channels.
I saw it at a screening* a week ago.
Borat is similar, though not for the entire movie.
While there are definitely scenes where he’s making fun of people trying to help him, there are a few in which the real people make their own beds to sleep in. He just highlights their preexisting prejudices/shortcomings/whatever. There are still other scenes where he’s not so much making fun of people trying to help him, but people are trying to help him and the situation (not the people) is funny.
Overall, though I usually don’t like “put people who are unaware of the situation in odd positions” type of shows, I found this one pretty hilarious. YMMV.
*I also got to see the new Will Farrell movie coming out next week – I didn’t think it had a chance to measure up after I’d just seen Borat, but it was amazing.
Just saw it…hands down, the funniest movie I’ve seen in ten years. Impossible to tell the staged scenes vs. the unstaged. The hotel room fight had the entire audience in hytserics for several mintues- my sides actually hurt after that scene, no exaggeration. The only thing unfunny was the scene in the Pentecostal church, which was downright scary. I will be seeing it again tomorrow. God, I hope this makes money so there will be a sequel, or at least a Bruno movie.