Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
The cinematic comedy is one of two genres where it’s heyday seems to have passed long ago, like, when the medium moved from silent to sound (horror is the other one). Other genre’s benefitted- and would indeed seem improbable in a way- with the addition of dialogue, but the silent era the comedy (and horror) genres to their essence, and that purity hit its’ artistic peak in the films of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin (Harold Lloyd- tragically- is still on my “need to see” list). Sound has produced great comedy- make no mistake (see “Some Like It Hot,” “Arsenic and Old Lace,” “Ghostbusters,” “Airplane,” “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Blazing Saddles,” “One, Two, Three” and “A Shot in the Dark,” among many, many others, to go along with Keaton and Chaplin classics like “Sherlock Jr.,” “City Lights,” “Our Hospitality,” “The Great Dictator,” and “The General”)- but it’s few and far between, and it has always seemed to me that in the past decade, greatness (or at least funniness) is getting fewer and further between. A few filmmakers have established camp on my funny bone over the years- Christopher Guest and his gifted crew (can’t wait for “For Your Consideration”), Kevin Smith, Charlie Kaufman, Frank Oz (see “What About Bob?,” “In & Out,” and “Bowfinger”), “Mystery Science Theatre 3000” (the show and the movie), Matt Groening (whose creations “The Simpsons” and “Futurama” have made TV a lot funnier for 18 years now- can’t wait for “The Simpsons Movie”), Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert (their prime work is on TV, but these twin satirists of politics and media deserve mention with their cinematic bretheren), Matt Stone and Trey Parker, Wes Anderson, and animation houses Pixar and Aardman (family filmmaking just isn’t funnier when they’re not responsible)- and a handful of comedies have made me LMFAO (three cheers to “Office Space,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” “The Mask,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” “Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World,” “School of Rock,” the “American Pie” films, the musical “The Producers,” “Failure to Launch,” and “Chance,” which standout, but don’t stand alone), but most comedy is merely pleasant to watch, if it’s funny at all.
If there’s anything I’ve learned over the years with movie comedy, it’s be cautious when it comes to critics- if they like it (and are very much unanimous in their opinion), don’t let that cloud your judgement. As much as I love Mel Brooks, the original film of “The Producers” has never hit my funnybone the way it does for others. The concept was always inspired- and “Springtime for Hitler” was always a comic bullseye- but it doesn’t inspire half the laughs of later Brooks’ efforts like “Young Frankenstein,” “Blazing Saddles,” or “Spaceballs.” Ditto “This is Spinal Tap,” which is a steady stream of subtle and sophisticated wit and satire (much of which is very funny), but rarely inspires the belly laughs critics have given it credit for (though the rare belly laughs are the iconic ones in the film)- Christopher Guest’s recent forays into the comic doc genre are much funnier. Last summer’s “Wedding Crashers” was supposed to be the return of the R-rated sex comedy to its’ former glory, but “40-Year-Old Virgin”- which came out a month after- proved to be the genre at its’ rowdy, raunchy peak (more so on the insanely rewatchable Unrated DVD). And then there’s the Farrelly Brothers’ “There’s Something About Mary,” long the genre’s biggest smash, which was marketed (and reviewed) as a sweet, stupidly funny stalker story but I found mean-spirited and, frankly, just not that funny. How did that ever make $180 million again?
This leads me, finally, to “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” (I just love that subtitle- the best since “Strangelove”). The critical acclaim for this film is, quite honestly, stupifying. And Oscar talk? Really? Look, when the Academy pulls the stick out of its’ ass and begins to see the art in modern comedy’s sometimes-assanine behavior (folks, Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” was the last real comedy to win Best Picture), I’ll be the first in line to forgive it for its’ slights of films like “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut,” “Dogma,” “Swingers,” “Get Shorty,” and “Office Space” and actors like Bill Murray, Jim Carrey, Vince Vaughn, Eugene Levy, Steve Carrell (he so should have been nominated for “Virgin” last year), and Michael Keaton (if you miss Will Ferrell from that list, it’s only because “Talladega Nights” was the first time his humor really busted my gut on the big screen). This isn’t to say Sacha Baron Cohen- the British comic who brought Borat to life first on HBO’s “Da Ali G Show” (and stole the show as the gay French racecar driver in “Nights”) before bringing him to the big screen- isn’t worthy of the talk as the Khazakhstani reporter who’s sent by his government to learn more about America for a documentary. He’s really funny in the role, and his movie is very, very funny, but it’s sketch comedy where the sketch goes on for 89 minutes (I will say that at least he and director Larry Charles- best known for his work as a writer on “Seinfeld” (a logical precursor if one thinks about it) and director on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (which I’ve yet to watch)- don’t pad the story). Comparisons to Andy Kaufman, Peter Sellers, and Jim Carrey wouldn’t be out of the question…
…but they’re a bit premature. Imagine Stephen Colbert (along with Stewart and his “Daily Show” crew) trying to do a feature film with the right-wing commentator he’s created on “The Colbert Report” and you have an idea as to what “Borat” feels like. It’s a one-joke movie, with Borat revealing the prejudices we’d like to pretend are gone from America, but are still alive and kicking, by putting his own on display shamelessly (his obliviousness to his own crudity and offensiveness is part of the joke). It’s not a hard movie to get- Baron Cohen is pushing the boundaries of PC-comedy in a way that deserves comparison to the likes of Stewart, Colbert, Groening (and his teams of writers on his shows), and Matt Stone and Trey Parker (who have done it on both the small screen- “South Park” is 10 this year; woah- and big, be it with “BASEketball,” “Orgazmo,” “Team America: World Police,” or “Bigger, Longer, and Uncut,” still the ballsiest and most brilliant social satire the big screen’s ever seen). But Stewart and Colbert know their acts works best in 22-minute intervals four nights a week, and Groening, Stone, and Parker know how to build stories around their biting wit. In retrospect, a lot of the raunchy bits in “Borat” seem more inspired to push the envelope further (like Borat and his producer’s bare-ass brawl and chase through a hotel after, well, you just have to see it) than to push the satire down people’s throats (Borat’s speech at a rodeo and singing of the national anthem- with an American flag shirt on, no less- outdoes Rosanne’s infamous real-life crotch-grabbing performance for pointed socio-political protest in spades- it belongs in a time capsule). Push the envelope, by all means, but making it mean something is what makes it stick, and I wonder how much of “Borat” (which is very funny in both comic camps; there weren’t many moments when I wasn’t laughing) will in the long run.
