More Like Zero out of Ten Stars.

Rating: 1/10 (2 December 2006)

****I discuss some of the flaws in Cohen's attempt at representing someone from Kazakhstan**** The only reason I gave this movie 1 star is because zero is not an option. Sacha Baron Cohen is a poor excuse for a comic. His brand of comedy, laughter at the expense of somebody in a contrived situation, failed to make me laugh. Moreover, he has a major chip on his shoulder that he tries to knock off by way of denigrating so many groups. This would-have-been rabbi uses Muslims, Eastern Europeans, Women, Gays, and Americans as fodder. I think Cohen is doing nothing more than using this poor attempt at a mockumentary to convey his xenophobic, racist, and misogynistic views.
Additionally, he does not look Kazakh, maybe somebody from the Caucasus region, but definitely not Kazakh. The captions on the screen in the Cyrillic alphabet do not actually say anything; they are a hodge-podge of random letters that quickly disappear under the superimposed supposed English translation. Anytime he says something like "dzien dobry, dziekuje," or "jak se mas" he is speaking Polish, a Western Slavic language. Kazakh is a Turkic language, like most of the other languages spoken in Central Asia. With a little more attention to detail maybe this could have been a funny movie in spite of all the scatological humor. But Cohen must think a separating ocean is enough to keep him from developing an authentic character for the American viewing public.
Cohen is a bore and with any luck his fifteen minutes of fame are ready to expire. I hope all of the law-suits filed against him are ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.