New ‘Ali G’ Film: Borat - Page 2

Kylo Ren · 05-24-2006, 08:16 AM

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.

'Hamas' Jenkins · 11-04-2006, 01:06 AM

Just remember, if it not success, he will be execute.

jynni · 11-04-2006, 01:08 AM

I'm scarred for life.

Really - the "fight" in the hotel room has scarred me for life. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

This was probably one of the funniest and most offensive movies I've ever seen. It made South Park seem nearly G-rated. I was laughing my ass off or shrieking in horror/disbelief at the same time.

HolmeZz · 11-04-2006, 01:24 AM

Her vajeen hang loose like sleeve of wizard.

Thig Lyfe · 11-04-2006, 01:27 AM

I like you do you like me?

**KcMizzou** · 11-04-2006, 02:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HolmeZz

Her vajeen hang loose like sleeve of wizard.

That's the best thing I've ever read.

Stewie · 11-04-2006, 07:11 AM

I have to see this movie! Here's a deleted scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6B7X8ZD9VY

**the Talking Can** · 11-04-2006, 07:33 AM

going tonight.....this movie deserves an oscar

Chiefs_Mike_Topeka · 11-04-2006, 09:14 AM

One of the funniest movies I have ever seen. The nude hotel scene is so disturbing and twisted; but so damn funny I can not even begin to give it words.

"My mustach stills smells like testes"

unlurking · 11-04-2006, 09:44 AM

HBO is playing the entire first and second season of Ali G on Monday and Tuesday if anyone is interested. I know I've missed a few episodes, so plan to TIVO it.

I can't wait to see the movie either, probably won't get time to go for several weeks though.

irishjayhawk · 11-04-2006, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chiefs_Mike_Topeka

One of the funniest movies I have ever seen. The nude hotel scene is so disturbing and twisted; but so damn funny I can not even begin to give it words.

"My mustach stills smells like testes"

Yep, my thoughts exactly.

HolmeZz · 11-04-2006, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KcMizzou

That's the best thing I've ever read.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZT3s_TpfTFY

Around the 3:35 mark.

**DaneMcCloud** · 11-04-2006, 10:41 PM

I just saw it and I don't think I've ever laughed that hard so many times in one movie. I actually have a headache from all the laughing.

While it wasn't a amazing "movie" per se, there were scenes in each segment that we absolutely gut-busting. Highly recommended.

**alnorth** · 11-05-2006, 12:55 AM

Just got back from Borat.

No, he is not the living incarnation of comedy itself, and I'm sure there are many movies in American history that are funnier than this one.... I cant think of any right now, but there's got to be a few.

Is it really freaking hilarious and well worth your money to see it in the theaters? Oh, hell yes, half the audience almost died laughing. Dont expect any high-brow sophisticated messages here, but I give this movie my full unqualified recommendation.

KCChiefsMan · 11-05-2006, 03:21 AM

ya I can't wait to see this!

tyton75 · 11-05-2006, 08:55 AM

I would have to concur with the board... I nearly died.. I couldn't catch my breath and I'm sure I missed about 20% of the movie because I was laughing over the next jokes... it was fantastic

05-24-2006, 08:16 AM
Kylo Ren Grandson of Darth Vader Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Starkiller Base Casino cash: $10015175	New ‘Ali G’ Film: Borat 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.
Posts: 10,197

11-04-2006, 01:06 AM	#16
'Hamas' Jenkins Now you've pissed me off! Join Date: Jan 2006 Casino cash: $7229572	Just remember, if it not success, he will be execute. __________________ "When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.”--Abraham Lincoln
Posts: 75,077

11-04-2006, 01:08 AM	#17
jynni Starter Join Date: Oct 2003 Casino cash: $-1233669	I'm scarred for life. Really - the "fight" in the hotel room has scarred me for life. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This was probably one of the funniest and most offensive movies I've ever seen. It made South Park seem nearly G-rated. I was laughing my ass off or shrieking in horror/disbelief at the same time.
Posts: 884

11-04-2006, 01:24 AM	#18
HolmeZz i guess its bittersweet poetry Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: NeW HaVeN, CT Casino cash: $10004900	Her vajeen hang loose like sleeve of wizard.
Posts: 16,520

11-04-2006, 01:27 AM	#19
Thig Lyfe Banned Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Thigpen's America Casino cash: $10004900	I like you do you like me?
Posts: 25,680

11-04-2006, 07:11 AM	#21
Stewie MVP Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: West of the Equator Casino cash: $-1670099	I have to see this movie! Here's a deleted scene. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6B7X8ZD9VY
Posts: 13,846

11-04-2006, 07:33 AM	#22
the Talking Can Supporter Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: street Casino cash: $9302208	going tonight.....this movie deserves an oscar __________________ Clark Hunt: "Thank god for the Dominican pool boy"
Posts: 51,585

11-04-2006, 09:14 AM	#23
Chiefs_Mike_Topeka Rest in Peace Zachary Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Topeka Casino cash: $10005025	One of the funniest movies I have ever seen. The nude hotel scene is so disturbing and twisted; but so damn funny I can not even begin to give it words. "My mustach stills smells like testes"
Posts: 1,970

11-04-2006, 09:44 AM	#24
unlurking MVP Join Date: Aug 2003 Casino cash: $7737309	HBO is playing the entire first and second season of Ali G on Monday and Tuesday if anyone is interested. I know I've missed a few episodes, so plan to TIVO it. I can't wait to see the movie either, probably won't get time to go for several weeks though.
Posts: 10,620

11-04-2006, 10:41 PM	#27
DaneMcCloud Supporter Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Hollywood, CA Casino cash: $10053648	I just saw it and I don't think I've ever laughed that hard so many times in one movie. I actually have a headache from all the laughing. While it wasn't a amazing "movie" per se, there were scenes in each segment that we absolutely gut-busting. Highly recommended.
Posts: 88,960

11-05-2006, 12:55 AM	#28
alnorth . Join Date: Dec 2002 Casino cash: $57156239	Just got back from Borat. No, he is not the living incarnation of comedy itself, and I'm sure there are many movies in American history that are funnier than this one.... I cant think of any right now, but there's got to be a few. Is it really freaking hilarious and well worth your money to see it in the theaters? Oh, hell yes, half the audience almost died laughing. Dont expect any high-brow sophisticated messages here, but I give this movie my full unqualified recommendation. __________________ how many emo kids does it take to change a lightbulb? HOW MANY?! none they just sit in the dark and cry
Posts: 36,130

11-05-2006, 03:21 AM	#29
KCChiefsMan AIC Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: West Roxbury, MA Casino cash: $10004900	ya I can't wait to see this!
Posts: 11,478

11-05-2006, 08:55 AM	#30
tyton75 Veteran Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: KC North Casino cash: $3808386	I would have to concur with the board... I nearly died.. I couldn't catch my breath and I'm sure I missed about 20% of the movie because I was laughing over the next jokes... it was fantastic __________________
Posts: 3,330