New ‘Ali G’ Film: Borat

[Kylo Ren]

New ‘Ali G’ Film: Borat

Last night at Cannes, FOX — our little old 20th Century FOX — presented a stealth screening of the funniest, lewdest, coarsest and potentially gigantic hit of the year. The title is “Borat,” and if this 88-minute comedy manages to get an R-rating, the world as we know it may never be the same.

The e-mailed invite read:

Kazakhstan Ministry of Information

Present You Invite to special screening of: BORAT

CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICAFOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATIONOF KAZAKHSTAN

Borat, of course, is the invention of comedian Sascha Baron Cohen, aka hip-hop interviewer "Ali G." Perhaps you’ve seen "Da Ali G Show” on HBO? The producers of this film, who traveled the United States to hoodwink real people into being on camera with Cohen, are hoping you have not seen the show. In fact, they specifically chose areas where HBO viewership was lowest to pull off a series of mind-boggling stunts.

The film falls somewhere between "Candid Camera" and "Jackass" as Borat, Cohen’s gray-suited, moustachioed television interviewer from Kazakhstan meets, insults, annoys and disgusts anyone with whom he comes in contact. Cohen never breaks character from Borat, counting on the sympathy and gullibility of people Borat meets to offer him leeway — at least initially — because he has a funny accent.

Because of that, Borat is disarming when he encounters innocents: He kisses every man on both cheeks, sometimes on the lips. He genially convinces a well-dressed Midwestern woman to show him how to perform bathroom ablutions — and then invites a large-breasted prostitute to dinner at the woman’s home. There is endless sex talk, something like a parody of Roberto Benigni’s Oscar proclamation, “I want to make love to all of you!”

The plot, such as it is, involves Borat and his sidekick Azamat (a surreal performance by little-known character actor Ken Davitian) traveling to New York and then across the United States, filming all their adventures. The Russian satellite country of Kazakhstan (Romania was used as a stand in), already unhappy with Cohen because of the “Da Ali G Show,” is so thoroughly and hilariously trashed in this movie that even shuttle diplomacy may not undo the international damage. Borat, for example, travels with live chickens in his suitcase, and routinely refers to the "town rapist" while his overweight shrew of a wife threatens to kill him if he doesn’t come home.

But there are also some sequences that will defy censors, including one extended bit in which Borat and Azamat (sounds like HAZMAT), his sidekick — a thick eye-browed sort of Sancho Panza with breasts larger than Pamela Anderson’s — wrestle nude in their hotel room. The wildly explicit, freaky mayhem spills out in the hotel elevator and then down onto the stage of a conference of insurance underwriters. The spectacle of Borat — a tall, lanky man, locked in hairy embrace with Azamat in front of several hundred straight-laced businessmen in blue blazers — may present to the MPAA its most confounding challenge ever about to rate a film for public consumption. The scenes are more disturbing than the end of "Hannibal."

Anderson, by the way, becomes the Holy Grail of “Borat,” and it’s hard to say whether she is in on the joke or not. I suspect she is not, as Borat’s journey across America to meet her is a sly and disturbing take on celebrity stalking that should only make personal bodyguards become more popular. Armed with a picture book about Baywatch, Borat is determined to meet the object of his fantasies. When he does, all hell breaks loose as he literally throws a burlap sack over Anderson’s head and carries her away from a book signing. Who knows what she thought was going on? You hope she was clued in, but it’s more than likely she wasn’t.

Also shown in embarrassing cameos typical of "Da Ali G Show" are former Congressman Bob Barr and Congressman Alan Keyes, who no doubt will be none too pleased to see themselves as comic punching bags.

But that’s what makes what Cohen and his chief collaborator, director Larry Charles, utterly brilliant. Charles is a longtime associate of both Seinfeld and Larry David, and Cohen has become a close personal friend of Seinfeld in the last few years. In tone and temperament, “Borat” is the bastard child of “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

David certainly approves of the comparison. Charles told me last night that when they screened "Borat" for David in Los Angeles, he stood up half way through and began screaming for them to stop the show. It was too funny.“

Borat” may present some real problems in the long run, however. Because it places Cohen and Davitian among countless numbers of non-actors, some of the people who turn up in the film may not be too pleased. This isn’t actually "Candid Camera" or even "Punk’d." The production company routinely secured releases from participants on the pretense that they were filming for Kazakhstan TV. Cohen and Davitian were presented as their characters, and they never broke from that, not even when shooting ended.“

This was a movie that involved a lot of running,” Charles told me. The police were called on at least 50 occasions by upset victims of the production company’s pranks. The nude wrestling in the insurance adjusters’ meeting sparked a near riot in that conference room, with observers racing to pull the two men off of each other (a truly unsavory prospect).

I don’t want to give too much more away, but between this little gem and the August release of “Little Miss Sunshine,” FOX (and Fox Searchlight) has become the unlikely home of cutting edge comedy.

[teedubya]

I havent seen this yet, but I can say that Im happy that Sasha Baron Cohen is getting some love over here in the US.

He was the inspiration for my Login name... Ali Chi3fs, aiiiii! Might be time to go back to that. Fo 'reals, Aiiii?

Definitely looking forward to this one.

[memyselfI]

Saw the movie earlier today. The guy is comic geneous. I think he's of the Robin Williams caliber. He's only 35 and already has made two films based on his alter egos. He's sooooo very talented.

The movie is hysterical. It has a scene with major 'ick' factor but outside of that scene, which is really funny, it is really enjoyable. Watching people leave the movie was fun. You can tell who loved the movie by who was still smiling or laughing and by who looked disgusted.

[ChiefaRoo]

Originally Posted by memyselfI

Saw the movie earlier today. The guy is comic geneous. I think he's of the Robin Williams caliber. He's only 35 and already has made two films based on his alter egos. He's sooooo very talented.

The movie is hysterical. It has a scene with major 'ick' factor but outside of that scene, which is really funny, it is really enjoyable. Watching people leave the movie was fun. You can tell who loved the movie by who was still smiling or laughing and by who looked disgusted.

I saw and loved it. I could of done without seeing Azmat's balls in Borat's face as I'm going to have to have therapy now.

There are so many small jokes that just cracked me up like when when they're traveling across the USA and Azmat is freshening up at some pond next to the highway and the camera zooms out and Borats taking a power piss about three feet to his right. Or when Azmat said the Bear ran off but when he goes to the refrigerator to get something out of it there's a Bears head on the shelf. Great movie. Two thumbs up.

[memyselfI]

Originally Posted by ChiefaRoo

I saw and loved it. I could of done without seeing Azmat's balls in Borat's face as I'm going to have to have therapy now.

There are so many small jokes that just cracked me up like when when they're traveling across the USA and Azmat is freshening up at some pond next to the highway and the camera zooms out and Borats taking a power piss about three feet to his right. Or when Azmat said the Bear ran off but when he goes to the refrigerator to get something out of it there's a Bears head on the shelf. Great movie. Two thumbs up.

One of my favorite scenes was obviously Borat's support of Bush's 'War of Terror.' Especially when you read what transpired after the scene.


http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/xp-16655

Rodeo in Salem gets unexpected song rendition
A man purportedly from Kazakhstan launched into a diatribe instead of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
By Laurence Hammack

No one knows for sure who he was, that Middle Eastern man in an American flag shirt and a cowboy hat who was supposed to sing the national anthem at a rodeo Friday night in the Salem Civic Center.

But he sure shook up this town before leaving in a hurry.

Introduced as Boraq Sagdiyev from Kazakhstan, he was said to be an immigrant touring America. A film crew was with him, doing some sort of documentary. And he wanted to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" to show his appreciation, the announcer told the crowd.

Speaking in broken English, the mysterious man first told the decidedly pro-American crowd - it was a rodeo, of all things, in Salem, of all places - that he supported the war on terrorism.

"I hope you kill every man, woman and child in Iraq, down to the lizards," he said, according to Brett Sharp of Star Country WSLC, who was also on stage that night as a media sponsor of the rodeo.

An uneasy murmur ran through the crowd.

"And may George W. Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq," he continued, according to Robynn Jaymes, who co-hosts a morning radio show with Sharp and was also among the stunned observers.

The crowd's reaction was loud enough for John Saunders, the civic center's assistant director, to hear from the front office. "It was a restless kind of booing," Saunders said.

Then the man took off his hat and sang what he said was his native national anthem. He then told the crowd to be seated, put his hat back on, and launched into a butchered version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" that ended with the words "your home in the grave," Sharp said.

By then, a restless crowd had turned downright nasty.

"If he had been out there a minute longer, I think somebody would have shot him," Jaymes said. "People were booing him, flipping him off."

Rodeo producer Bobby Rowe, who by then had figured out that he was the victim of some kind of hoax, had the man escorted out of the civic center. Rowe told him that he and his film friends had best leave right then.

"Had we not gotten them out of there, there would have been a riot," said Rowe, who has been bringing his Imperial Rodeo Productions to Salem for years.

As his wife, Lenore, put it: "It's a wonder one of these cowboys didn't go out there and rope him up."

Saunders agreed. "I was concerned for his personal safety," he said.

Once the film crew members and their star realized the severity of the situation, Bobby Rowe said, "they loaded up the van and they screeched out of there."

After apologizing to the crowd for being duped, Rowe was left to wonder who pulled such a hoax, and why. Months ago, he was approached by someone from One America, a California-based film company that was reportedly doing a documentary on a Russian immigrant, Rowe said.

The outfit asked if Sagdiyev could sing the national anthem at the rodeo in Salem. After listening to a tape, Rowe said sure.

By Saturday afternoon, Jaymes had observed that Sagdiyev looked a lot like the title character of "Da Ali G Show," a Home Box Office production that often catches its guests and audiences unaware and then records their reaction to "shock value" material such as Friday night's performance.

The show has a character named Borat from Kazakhstan, according to the HBO Web site.

Jaymes said she recalls that one of the five cameras was turned on her and others on stage, as if to catch their reactions.

"I looked at Brett and said, 'Why do I feel like I'm in the middle of a bad "Saturday Night Live" episode?'" Jaymes said.

As Rowe prepared Saturday for a second night of the rodeo, he was playing it safe on who would sing the national anthem.

"It'll be a tape," he said.

[ChiefaRoo]

I liked it all. He's an equal opportunity offender.

[KcMizzou]

Originally Posted by memyselfI

Introduced as Boraq Sagdiyev from Kazakhstan, he was said to be an immigrant touring America. A film crew was with him, doing some sort of documentary. And he wanted to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" to show his appreciation, the announcer told the crowd.

Poor, gullible bastards.

[ChiefaRoo]

"In my country they would go crazy for these two women....... her not so much....."

[Bob Dole]

Mahir Cagri is mad.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movi....ap/index.html

Bob Dole wouldn't be surprised if this is more setup to generate publicity.

[Sam Hall]

I'm seeing it tonight. I've heard certain scenes have the "WOW" factor.

[Halfcan]

Doesn't he know its home of the CHIEFS-damm foreigners!

[Sam Hall]

You have to be a little crazy to volunteer for that role.

[CoMoChief]

This movie was fuggin awesome. Saw it on Sunday afternoon after the game.

[MVChiefFan]

I've owned the dvd's of all the seasons for about a year now. I've watched Borat until I've literally cried. The wife and I went and watched it at 2:50pm saturday afternoon at the campbell 16 and to my surprise, the whole theater was full. In fact, there were people who stood in the hallway throughout the whole movie. Needless to say, the movie was "a great success"!!! NIIIICE!!!

[KcMizzou]

This will be the death of Borat. He's become too popular.