about as subversive as what Israel just finished doing to Lebanon and as despicable

Rating: 1/10 (3 March 2007)

I watched about an hour of it then finally walked out. I did not find it very funny. I mean I cracked a smile once or twice maybe laughed out loud one time? It was mostly just lame. I'm glad I only went to see it at the Beverly Fairfax "all seats $3" theater.
And, let me get his right, this from what I hear "deeply religious" Jewish man is supposed to be showing how OTHER people are racist with this film? Uh... OK, whatever! I really think the film was about as subversive as what Israel just finished doing to Lebanon. Although the main point of it is simply for the audience to look down at a parade of cretins for 90 minutes and feel superior. I mean it was so not funny. Yes kids screaming at the bear was funny. "these 2 are hot, this one not so much" was mean funny. "what kind of dog is that" regarding the tortoise was cute mean funny.
but his masturbating outside Victoria's secret, kissing his sister, almost all the other gags, the painfully obviously fake set up ones with people on the street threatening him, so lamely executed, were just atavistic, just like a total consciousness lowering excersize for the public. let's all demean ourselves. isn't this fun. and the fact that an ethnicity a people are like the occasion for it... well, so what right? who cares? exactly. that's exactly what the film seems to be going for.
and what did work in Ali G didn't here cause poor Sascha is in such a hurry to tell this "story" such as it is, this road film literally has ground to cover, that nobody really gets a chance to do anything interesting in the way of self immolation. I mean we get the reaction of a politician over hearing cheese came from Borat's wife's tit. Oh that's really deep, doesn't that get you thinking about the state of the world. The rodeo scene was a highlight certainly but I don't see anything really shocking about the fact that people at war can be bloodthirsty. especially when you consider many of the people in that arena might have lost sons and brothers to this war.
I recently read an item about how among the many lawsuits filed in the wake of the movie one is on behalf of the people from the opening of the film who were told they were participating in a documentary about poverty where they live. Guess they were "punked" cause in reality they lent themselves to a "comedy" depicting them as incestuous, bestiality loving sub humans. Despicable.
It is utterly demoralizing that fatuous people admire this movie as is supposedly "holds up a mirror to the US" as they look down on the people appearing on screen who were simply lied to and made fun of as they tried to cope with processing what was going on as it began to dawn on them that they were being lied to. What really frightens me is that complacent audiences watch this and totally have no problem with the most pernicious elements, the dehumanization of Arabs by Sascha Cohen. It's the people who enjoy this movie who are, frankly, the contemptible fools.
Laugh while you can. Gore Vidal said it so well in an interview he gave for the LA Weekly. "One day the Arabs will find their Saladin and come after us and it's not going to be pretty."