A very mixed bag--of garbage

Rating: 5/10 (11 July 2007)

Regarding one British reviewer who commented that Borat reveals "a society just brimming with hate" or whatever, just once, just once I'd like to see some film maker put the damn shoe on the other foot. Preferably a European fed up with his culture's random snobbery, maybe he'd find credibility with old world audiences. Any asshole (like his eminence Michael Moore, for example) can play around with allegedly off the cuff documentary footage to construct his own ugly picture of any society-and I do mean ANY society. How many shots, I wonder, did Mr.Cohen need to take to arrive at his contrived assemblage of supposedly representative vignettes of US manners and mores? Actually, some of Borat's victims seemed enormously tolerant of his bizarre provocations. But interviews with intelligent, pleasant folks wouldn't make for a very funny film, would they? I'm sure there are plenty of brilliant intellects out there (you know who you are, you've never even been to the US, just like your culture hero LVT) who would say that all of us were as dumb as the rodeo guy, since they value their own preconceived ideas about us more than any form of actual observation or interaction. Such persons, when they do actually encounter US visitors, are often wickedly skilled at doing and saying things that will only make these encounters fit into their preconceived notions about what proper transatlantic relationships should be. So many seem to believe that THEY know the true realities of life --they possess the truth with a capital T, and we are only allowed to worship their sacred opinions from afar, never to question, only obey, like good little colonials. I know these things--I've traveled in Europe several times. I have never ceased to be amazed at the sheer arrogance, the rudeness and the supercilious, vicious snobbery I've encountered as an American. In Europe I learned what it felt like to be treated like a minority--such behavior is never excusable, by politics or anything! I do not behave like the stereotypical ugly American. Plenty of Americans do read books, do object to the war in Iraq (isn't it obvious?) and some of us (such as myself) actually know where Kazakhistan is! Its in Central Asia, its a very large country, and the people there don't look like Caucasian Romanians, or European gypsies, either! Cohen is a talented performer who seems not only to be chronically lazy with the cheap laughs-he is also unaccountably addicted to potty humor of the lowest type. He is capable of much more, but perhaps his own issues (being Jewish and foreign, perhaps) prevent him from accessing any 'higher' levels of creativity (higher than the anus, I mean). Having said all this, there are some clever ideas here which get flushed down the drain about 20 minutes into the film. Some of the grossness is actually amusing (even the awful nude wrestling scene, I confess). But the potty humor dilutes the film's satiric impact, and all the random story threads (making fun of absolutely everyone at all times, for example) make the whole deal look like a giant spit wad, composed of bits and pieces of all things good, bad or indifferent. As I said before, Cohen is a talented performer, given the right material, which this certainly isn't.
BTW, if this post sounds like a diatribe (yes, yes I do know what that big word means), it is! This particular innocent, when abroad, was never impressed with old world 'wisdom' or whatever you'd call it. Not that I didn't have pleasant experiences, but somehow the bad stuff always stays longest in the memory.....