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Posted: Feb 28 2012 06:42 pm

So, Sacha Baron Cohen is making yet another movie where he plays yet another stereotyped character, this time the Dictator General Aladeen (Alladdin?). Seriously, does this guy have any other skills or is he just the world's highest-priced one trick pony? I watched part of an episode of Da Ali G show, didn't find it funny. The wife and I got ten minutes into Borat before we shut it off. Didn't even bother with Bruno. I'm actually surprised I'm getting a whole paragraph off about this movie.

Posted: Feb 28 2012 06:49 pm

I enjoy him because he shows people's biases and assumptions. If you're easily offended or don't like it brought to light, I could see why it might bother some people.

Posted: Feb 28 2012 06:53 pm

justdrop wrote:

I enjoy him because he shows people's biases and assumptions. If you're easily offended or don't like it brought to light, I could see why it might bother some people.

By acting like a total moron the whole time? It's not a matter of being offended by his portrayals of other cultures, I'm offended by the fact that his shit's tedious. I didn't turn Borat off because it was offensive, I turned it off because it was dull and stupid.

Posted: Feb 28 2012 06:54 pm

Yes, you paid attention to the wrong part. The true comedy is in the reactions of the people. Sorry you didn't get it, but it's not for everyone.

Posted: Feb 28 2012 07:06 pm

justdrop wrote:

Yes, you paid attention to the wrong part. The true comedy is in the reactions of the people. Sorry you didn't get it, but it's not for everyone.

No, I get it. Doing uproarious things that most civilized people wouldn't do in polite company without being either mentally handicapped or on drugs makes for an incredibly scathing critique on how Americans are so narrow-minded and provincial.

Posted: Feb 28 2012 07:08 pm

Not at all. Try reading exactly what I typed.

Edit: Let me put it in a way you can possibly understand, since telling you exactly what I meant seemed to confuse you.

Sasha Baron Cohen is one ingredient in the formula for comedy. He's the lesser of two ingredients, the other being close-minded, stereotypical, uptight or plain old dumb individuals. Those people are the catalyst. Literally anyone could take his place IF they were capable of not acting but convincing the people, agreed. He does the part well though.

Also, it's not funny because Americans are all like that; we obviously aren't. That's where the humor lies.

Posted: Feb 28 2012 07:17 pm

aeonic wrote:

No, I get it. Doing uproarious things that most civilized people wouldn't do in polite company without being either mentally handicapped or on drugs makes for an incredibly scathing critique on how Americans are so narrow-minded and provincial.

He's showing that someone can be racist or sexist among "polite company" and people put up with it. He can go to a dinner with an average American family and make Jew jokes and they don't bat an eye. He can go to a beach and ask muscle-bound morons to pose nude for him, but as soon as he says it's for a gay show they start calling everyone a "fag".

One of the many things he's pointing out is that xenophobia and bigotry are still very rampant in this "civilized" world. He's not the first to do it. Think Archie Bunker.

If you don't get the joke, then we can't help that. I think Borat is one of the funniest movies ever, and it's very intelligent. You've just missed the point and look at the surface of his work.

Posted: Feb 28 2012 07:17 pm

Yes, the reactions. Kind of what I was intimating, in that they were based on a stereotype that Cohen was perpetuating, not necessarily one that the subjects involved in the film held. Had he simply been a polite, curious foreigner instead of letting animals out on the subway, wrestling fully nude, and talking about how much he hates Jews and Gypsies, it would've never even aired, save for maybe on PBS. It was like watching Jackass except I wished, for the short time I watched it, that he would hurt himself more and talk less. Whatever. That's like saying Salo is "an ultimate expression of free will" due to the topic of libertinism being involved in the film.

Posted: Feb 28 2012 07:19 pm

No, it's like telling you that you don't get it and you insisting you do.

Posted: Feb 28 2012 07:21 pm

Now, as far as "The Dictator" is concerned, my guess is that he is making a point about how countries (America in particular) prop up these awful human beings to get what we want. We also ignore other horrendous dictators because there's nothing to be gained from taking them out. These dictators can do just about anything they want with the power they've been given.

Again, not the most original theme in the world, but he uses humor to get his point across and I think he's brilliant.

Posted: Feb 28 2012 07:31 pm

justdrop wrote:

No, it's like telling you that you don't get it and you insisting you do.

Thanks for determining what I do and don't get. Wherever would I be without your guidance?

And Klimb, I get what they're aiming for, I guess the guy just rubs me the wrong way. A little bit of subtlety could go a long, long way for him; the outrageousness thing just wears pretty thin. I'm still willing to see if he can pull off something serious in the Freddie Mercury biopic that he's supposed to be working on, because even just on sight, the two look fairly similar. I guess I'm just in the minority on liking his body of work to-date. Such is life.

Posted: Feb 28 2012 07:37 pm

Are you aware that he's done many acting roles, not just over-the-top characters? Maybe you saw him and didn't even realize. I don't see how he's a one-trick pony.

Posted: Feb 28 2012 07:39 pm

aeonic wrote:

justdrop wrote:

No, it's like telling you that you don't get it and you insisting you do.

Thanks for determining what I do and don't get. Wherever would I be without your guidance?

And Klimb, I get what they're aiming for, I guess the guy just rubs me the wrong way. A little bit of subtlety could go a long, long way for him; the outrageousness thing just wears pretty thin. I'm still willing to see if he can pull off something serious in the Freddie Mercury biopic that he's supposed to be working on, because even just on sight, the two look fairly similar. I guess I'm just in the minority on liking his body of work to-date. Such is life.

I dunno, I don't seem to have made an impact on you so I'd assume the same exact place you are now. About those stereotypes about Americans again..

Posted: Feb 28 2012 07:54 pm

I'll admit, the only other places I've seen him were in Talladega Nights and Sweeny Todd, one of which was nowhere near serious, the other in which he was so-so in for the short time he was in the film; I wasn't aware that he's been in that much besides those. I hear he's going to be in a new version of Les Mis, that might be interesting to see. And justdrop, I'm free to have my opinion and you're free to do the same, despite how much either of us thinks the other one sucks. Also, it's a little hard to respond to your clarifications when you've edited them in several posts back after I've already posted again, but maybe my stereotypical American mind just can't deal with your revisionism. I do appreciate your condescension, though.

Posted: Feb 28 2012 07:58 pm

I don't think your opinion sucks, I just know that you've come to them on the wrong pretenses. The only editing I've done is adding, no revisions whatsoever. You just keep patting yourself on the back, though.

Edit, mainly because I know you love them so much: Yes, it's about laughing at Americans. No, it's not about laughing at all Americans or saying all Americans are like that. That is the chip on your shoulder. It's attempting to make us aware that antiquated beliefs like the ones displayed in the movie are still around. Hope this helps you.

Posted: Feb 29 2012 03:44 am

i like cohen. i can see how some people dont like it, but thats just them. i think hes hilarious both in his parody characters and in his movie roles. this new movie doesnt look particularly funny but im sure ill check it out eventually

Posted: Feb 29 2012 04:25 am

I thought Borat was okay. It can be funny but it kind of gets old for me pretty fast if you keep doing the same things over and over. I wasn't even aware that he was in Talladega Nights, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess he was the stereotypical gay French guy. I guess I didn't notice it was him because he looks completely different there. I've never seen him in anything else that I can recall though. Never saw Bruno, it just looked like more of the same. Probably won't see this unless it comes on the free movie channel on campus.

Posted: Feb 29 2012 04:33 am

He's hit and miss for me. Sometimes he's absolutely fantastic (that rodeo scene in Borat is an absolute classic, as was that scene on the beach that Klimb spoke of), but I do agree that a lot of times his truly over the top outrageousness defeats the point he may be trying to make. When you push things as far as he does, it STOPS being about people's close mindedness or preconceptions, and simply becomes about their reaction as human beings. That's when you get Jackass-esque sketches like the nude wrestling which was, while funny just because of the look on people's faces, hardly the scathing social commentary he's capable of. Cohn's big problem as I see it is that he mixes these two things in the same movie, and you end up with not only mood whiplash, but genre whiplash. I would watch the GOOD, beach-scene/rodeo Borat all day long. The naked wrestling Borat is something I can totally live with out (if you see what I mean.)

He's quite a good actor outside of that sort of thing, though. I really did love him in Sweeny Todd.

Joined: Apr 14 2006 Location: Lake Michigan Posts: 3332

I typically don't like his style (I'm not into the whole filming of real people not in on a joke).

The Dictator looks hilarious to me though, probably because it has a political theme.

Joined: Feb 27 2012 Posts: 52

I don't think we should be glorifying anti-american movies. Yeah I know its a joke but some people don't