# Anybody Seen "BORAT"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 2, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869 "2006-11-02T18:00:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/81 "2006-11-07T14:18:43Z")
[QUOTE=Push You Down] Did you see the movie? [/QUOTE] I’ve seen enough of the TV show and heard enough of the movie described to me to know it’s not substantially different. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/82 "2006-11-10T01:04:25Z")
So I see Borat took in about 9.2m on the opening weekend. I find myself curious as to how good that is, for a somewhat non-mainstream comedy. It’s 6m above 2nd place, but I guess it really doesn’t have any competition. The movie must’ve been dirt cheap to make, though, so I’m sure it’s showing a profit already. It’s always nice to see somewhat quirky movies succeed. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/83 "2006-11-10T01:10:33Z")
Woops, shows how much I know. I was looking at the week to date stats rather than opening weekend stats. It made 26.4m, which has to be several times its budget. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/84 "2006-11-10T02:18:51Z")
Budget 18 mil, expected to do around 10 opening weekend- way above anyones expectations- luckily Borat will not be execute. ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/85 "2006-11-10T04:05:49Z")
But he had to have the ass of a 300 lb. man in his face, so however much money makes, one wonders if it was worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/86 "2006-11-10T04:12:31Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Budget 18 mil [/QUOTE] I wonder how they spent that much? That’s gotta include $10mm up front for Mr. Cohen and healthy salaries for everyone else or something, because it looked like a $300,000 movie. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/87 "2006-11-10T04:25:47Z")
[QUOTE=Walter Windchill] But he had to have the ass of a 300 lb. man in his face, so however much money makes, one wonders if it was worth it. [/QUOTE] I still smell your testes on my mustache. (I agree, seems like the film could’ve been done for under 3 million. Salaries?) ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/88 "2006-11-10T04:30:38Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] I wonder how they spent that much? That’s gotta include $10mm up front for Mr. Cohen and healthy salaries for everyone else or something, because it looked like a $300,000 movie. [/QUOTE] Bringing a film crew to Albania can’t be cheap. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/89 "2006-11-10T04:41:30Z")
[QUOTE=Walter Windchill] Bringing a film crew to Albania can’t be cheap. [/QUOTE] Couple grand, maybe? It’s a film crew, not a film army. $18,000,000.00 is a lot of money. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/90 "2006-11-10T04:47:09Z")
I suspect that a lot of that budget includes marketing costs. There was a lot of advertising for this film. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/91 "2006-11-10T04:47:48Z")
Maybe that was 18 mil in Kazakh money? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/92 "2006-11-10T04:55:02Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] Couple grand, maybe? It’s a film crew, not a film army. $18,000,000.00 is a lot of money. [/QUOTE] It costs a “couple grand” to send me to a conference. I suspect it costs more to send a film crew halfway around the world. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/93 "2006-11-10T04:55:46Z")
[QUOTE=Walter Windchill] Sacha Cohen is not a genius. [/QUOTE] I just got back from the movie, and I have to agree. There were some parts that were very funny, both staged (bear in the ice cream truck - or just the fact that he was driving around in an ice cream truck) and probably unstaged (Bob Barr; the comedy coach who really knew his stuff… NOT!). The scenes where he was just making people uncomfortable, instead of letting assholes be assholes, sometimes fell flat for me. (The hotel clerk who practically ran away was great, though.) I don’t think this movie was as original or insightful as people have implied, but it’s a funny movie with some great scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/94 "2006-11-10T05:05:00Z")
Yeah, that’s all I was saying. I find the guy somewhat amusing, but I don’t think he’s brilliant or anything. He’s a good actor and has balls of steel, but that doesn’t make him a genius. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/95 "2006-11-10T05:12:38Z")
I went in expecting a funny comedy and that’s exactly what I got. Sacha Baron Cohen is a very intelligent and well-educated person so I think the “genius” is something that bleeds through rather than something he wedges in forcefully. It’s a comedy first, though. Saying you don’t like it because it isn’t as erudite as you hoped it would be is sort of like saying you’re not impressed with a blue whale because you expected it to have bigger antlers. ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/96 "2006-11-10T05:19:04Z")
I didn’t say I didn’t like it, nor did I expect it to be “erudite.” ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/97 "2006-11-10T11:44:57Z")
FWIW, I like the show, I laughed my ass off at the move, and I’m looking forward to the Bruno movie … and I agree with everything **Walter Windchill** said. “Genius” IMO is reserved for someone who does really innovative or original work. He is fantastic at what he does, but at this point it’s all he does, and it’s not _that_ new. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/98 "2006-11-10T12:42:28Z")
[QUOTE=Walter Windchill] But he had to have the ass of a 300 lb. man in his face, so however much money makes, one wonders if it was worth it. [/QUOTE] For $26 million I’d let a 300-pound man shit on my head. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/99 "2006-11-10T14:47:16Z")
Big surprise- the frat boys are suing Borat for making them look bad :rolleyes: [http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20061110/D8LA7R8G0.html](http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20061110/D8LA7R8G0.html) But from a legal standpoint, is it fraud if you sign a release stating this is for viewing on overseas, when in reality that is not the case? ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869/100 "2006-11-10T14:58:26Z")
> [@](#): > > The lawsuit claims that in October 2005, **a production crew took the students to a bar to drink and “loosen up”** before participating in what they were told would be a documentary to be shown outside of the United States. That’s where some of that 18 million dollars went. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-seen-borat/378869.md?page=6)