Borat pics

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Borat boys outside Mann's Chinese at last night's Borat premiere -- Monday, 10.23.06, 7:50 pm.

It was great to finally see Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (20th Century Fox, 11.3), even if it was on a very gracious, Russian-potato-line, second-class invitee basis.

Invited guests to last night's premiere were made to wait in a totally non-moving line on Hollywood Blvd. last night for a very long while, and while it was hardly painful or humiliating -- it was a nothing, a shrug-off -- this sort of thing never happens at a premiere. The usual drill at any premiere is to walk up to will-call, get your ticket and go inside and grab a bag of popcorn. Nobody could figure out the delay but the general sentiment was one of vague irritation and "why?" And then we were kept waiting another half hour or so once we were in the theatre and seated.

Borat is fall-on-the-floor funny. Hilarious, outrageous, brilliant, diseased. It's true about it being a slash-and-burn satire of American yahoo-ism. If red-staters are good sports they'll laugh along with everyone else, but some devotees of the Pentecostal faith are probably going to have concerns. The mock anti-semitism is inspirational; I loved the throwing of dollar bills at the Jews disguised as cock- roaches. And the naked wresting scene is without question the single most appalling thing I've seen in a film in years. Make that decades. And thass okay! I like it!

Borat star-producer-writer Sacha Baron Cohen spent an hour (longer?) talking to electronic press people on the red carpet. Journalists like myself and the Holly- wood Reporter's Borys Kit and N.Y. Times reporter Sharon Waxman didn't get to attend the premiere showing at the big Chinese theatre -- we were shunted off to an upstairs theatre at Mann's Chinese 6.

Variety reported that the plan was for Cohen "to be ushered into his preem by a phalanx of Kazakh locals bearing fruits and wonders of the country. Plans were for 'Borat' to be carried, bridelike, to the podium by an oversized woman. There, he would address the throng of press and fans and respond to a recent invitation to visit Kazakhstan, which has tried to disown Borat almost from the moment he claimed it as his country of origin."

Monday, 10.23.06, 10:05 pm

Another "Borat" tracking story<< previous | next >>Andersen on dying Times

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on October 24, 2006 at 12:01 AM

comment #1

berg says ...

borat backlash?

Posted by berg at October 24, 2006 6:36 AM

comment #2

pjm says ...

Imagine that - making the hipsters wait in line! unforgiveable! That seems to about sum up the appeal of this movie (which, admittedly, I haven't seen). Let's all have fun laughing at the assholes! Gee I can't imagine why it isn't tracking better with the assholes themselves - don't they think it's funny to be made fun of? Great comedy is about laughing at yourself, not at the folks in Kazakhstan or "Kansas," which I'm sure Mr. Cohen couldn't find on a map.

Posted by pjm at October 24, 2006 8:07 AM

comment #3

L.B. says ...

Thanks for the comedy lesson, pjm. If great comedy is about laughing at yourself, then what makes DR. STRANGELOVE so funny? How about the Marx Brothers? Something tells me great comedy can be about laughing at other people, too.

But I'm confused. pjm accuses the film of poking fun at hipsters. NYC accuses it of poking fun at rednecks. I don't know how to mindlessly catagorize this movie. Help!

Posted by L.B. at October 24, 2006 8:22 AM

comment #4

pjm says ...

L.B.: The Marx Bros. are funny precisely because they are what we WISH we were - they do and say all the witty, anarchic things we WISH we could think fast enough to say and do in the presence of the stuffed-shirts. Their genius is that you don't laugh at Margaret Dumont - you laugh at Groucho! It's anarchy, not mean-spiritedness. I admit I should reserve judgement until I see the film, but I'd be willing to bet that when you laugh in this movie, you're laughing at Margaret Dumont, so to speak, not at Borat. You don't come out of a Marx Bros. movie thinking "Boy, those guys sure made Margaret Dumont look like a fool! And she deserved it!" Same with Dr. Strangelove - we laugh at General Ripper because part of us says "Oh man, I KNOW this guy!" He's the irrational, lunatic part of US that wants to blow away all the commies (or the Muslims or whatever). Which is why the film was so far ahead of its time - who had the nerve back then to admit that the part of themself that hated the commies was insane?! I doubt anyone will watch this Borat film and bond with his victims, saying "Oh man, that's me!" The reaction is (I'm guessing) more like "Ha ha - what an idiot - that's sure not me!"

I don't accuse the film of poking fun of hipsters... Quite the opposite. I don't think the film will do ENOUGH poking fun of hipsters! I hope I'm wrong - I'll catch it on Netflix in six months...

Posted by pjm at October 24, 2006 9:12 AM

comment #5

L.B. says ...

Well, I can't wait for your fascinating dissertation about why it is or isn't funny when that great and glorious day arrives.

Posted by L.B. at October 24, 2006 10:12 AM

comment #6

christian says ...

where does monsieur jerry lewis fit into all this?

you laugh at him as he causes havoc and yet you laugh with him as he deflates other fools...

of course, we must assume that you laugh at jerry lewis. as i proudly do.

Posted by christian at October 24, 2006 10:23 AM

comment #7

Walter Sobchak says ...

All I know is that the damn traffic snarl-up on Hollywood Bl. almost made me late to Yo La Tengo at the Fonda. (this is where I would insert a frowning "smilie" face if they were available... thank goodness they aren't)

Posted by Walter Sobchak at October 24, 2006 12:13 PM

comment #8

jeffmcm says ...

Boo-hoo for Wells, he has to see the movie like normal people do, standing in line instead of getting invited to cushy preview screenings :(

Posted by jeffmcm at October 24, 2006 1:13 PM

comment #9

NYCBusybody says ...

Actually, the funniest part of Borat I've seen is him making fun of a bunch of Femi-nazi uglies, so it's not ALL anti-Red State.

Posted by NYCBusybody at October 24, 2006 3:19 PM

comment #10

L.B. says ...

Oh, shut up, NYC. Seriously.

Posted by L.B. at October 24, 2006 3:52 PM

comment #11

jeffmcm says ...

The feminist veterans?
What happened to supporting the troops? Only when they're men or hot chicks like Jessica Lynch, I guess.

Posted by jeffmcm at October 24, 2006 4:16 PM

comment #12

NYCBusybody says ...

laughs...Jeffmcm, you're kidding right. They're veteran FEMINISTS, not "veteran" (i.e. military feminists).

http://www.vfa.us/

These women wouldn't fight for this country if Hitler raped 'em.

Posted by NYCBusybody at October 24, 2006 4:27 PM

comment #13

NYCBusybody says ...

And L.B., I find it funny to make fun of Blue-staters and their ilk. Just learn to laugh at yourself.

Posted by NYCBusybody at October 24, 2006 4:31 PM

comment #14

L.B. says ...

I have no problem laughing at myself. It's just annoying that after weeks of your anti-Borat posts and being told repeatedly that he makes fun of people across the board, during which you'd shut your ears and hum loudly so no one could take you off of your decided on path that now you're "oh, hey he makes fun of both!" It's annoying because you're fucking dense and can't follow the thread of an argument. You answer back only the things you can address your bullshit talking points to and it makes you look ignorant. And when you get into a spot you can't get out of you just run off.

So, I will gladly laugh at myself, just like I laugh at your existence on a regular basis. But telling you to shut up has nothing to do with a sense of humor. It's finally getting fully sick of the yapping poodle in the yard next door.

Posted by L.B. at October 24, 2006 8:19 PM

comment #15

L.B. says ...

That being said, shut the fuck up, NYC.

Posted by L.B. at October 24, 2006 8:20 PM

comment #16

christian says ...

"These women wouldn't fight for this country if Hitler raped 'em"

you know NYC, i enjoy your posts because as a good liberal i welcome dissent. even myopic stupid dissent. but that above quote is so filled with the kind of venal hate that you claim is so unfairly used against the common heartland folk that i find it difficult to respond.

not as difficult as your inability to respond to the factual litany of bush republican crooked soulless incompetence without using a sean hannity or rush limbaugh talking point.

you gag up a creaky rush knee-slapper labeling women as nazis then make a hilarious quip about women refusing to fight if hitler raped them. i must've missed that bit of patented limbaugh excellence in broadcsting.

but if limbaugh inspires you with his drug addled hatred of humanity as he inspires president bush who routinely calls his show, then the linkage between sad souls is inescapable.

see, you're the kinda guy hitler would've used to rape women. just a thought.

Posted by christian at October 24, 2006 10:58 PM

comment #17

L.B. says ...

Dissent is one thing. The inane jabber of an imbecile is another.

To prove what a fair-minded liberal I am, the same goes for D.Z..

Posted by L.B. at October 24, 2006 11:03 PM

comment #18

NYCBusybody says ...

If comparing people to Nazis is a horrible, horrible thing to do, half of the left-wing in this country (who compare Bush, Israelis, Republicans, take your pick) to Nazis would be automatically disqualified from discourse.

Lighten up. Making fun of Femi-nazi, abortion-on-demand types if funny from where I stand. You shut the fuck up, hippie.

Posted by NYCBusybody at October 25, 2006 11:47 AM

comment #19