Boring Borat?

Borat Boring?

Borat, star of recent Hollywood success movie is good, very good. He started off as a bit character in the Ali G show, and had some funny, insightful jokes. While he made people express their prejudices, or agree with his, he was original and interesting. It seems that with the success of the movie, and the work that went into promoting it, he has devolved the humor of the character into nothing more than a long running potty joke. Laughing at and with the bumbling reporter asking a scandalous question was funny without the overt anti Semitism, constant bashing of Kazakhstan and toilet humor. The show could be carried with witty humor that does not have to sink to the level of Boltok the rapist, or how his fictional sister is Kazakhstan’s fourth best prostitute. I found it hilarious that throughout the movie he speaks in Hebrew, constantly screaming things at his producer in thick Russian accented Hebrew. I recently read he bases his “wa wa we wa” phrase on zehu ze, a popular Israeli TV show. I don’t know if that’s accurate, but the Hebrew alone makes the movie worth watching. Regarding the movie, this was the first time I heard the phrase mocumentary used, a mock documentary. I thought about it for a while, and it kind of made me hungry, it reminds me of mock chicken loaf (see my post about Perl’s).

We have recently seen several interviews with Borat on TV from all over the world. In Holland, on David Letterman, and the Howard Stern Show. It was surprising that the jokes were the same, the back story identical. Sacha Baron Cohen went from being funny and unique with Borat to boring and dull with repetitive jokes, and old material. I guess the movie, if taken with a grain of salt, would be funny for a first time viewer, or someone never exposed to Borat. Seeing as the success of the movie relies on people not recognizing him, I don’t think there will a Borat 2 anytime soon, at least not filmed in the States. Currently, the movie has made at least a hundred million dollar profit (boxofficemojo.com) while succeeding in annoying, offending entertaining and amusing millions of people. I would not recommend the movie if you have something better to do, or are familiar with the character, it is good for a mindless laugh at peoples prejudices.

I can understand the appeal of the concept though, I know many people who would not just be out of place in the big city, but seem as if they come from a different planet. One of the interesting aspects of Israeli culture is that we are all a bit like that, trying to figure out how to coexist in a nation of malbi and jachnun along side hamburgers and doughnuts. The fish out of water theme is something we can all relate to, now if only there was a way to turn my cultural confusion into a multimillion dollar movie project…