I actually just came back from seeing Borat. I have to say, I was a little disappointed. I am of a fan of Baron Cohen’s, have seen most if not all of “Da Ali G” shows and always thought Borat was his strongest character. However, I thought the movie was just too much. There was far less “biting satire” than there was over-the-top scatological gross-out humor. I laughed a lot more at a movie like Wedding Crashers than I did at this. This had a lot of “can you believe he just said/did that? moments but I didn’t laugh out loud much. But the NYC audience I saw it with seemed to love it (esp. the 10 year old I was seeing next to – what’s wrong with parents today?)They are always willing to laugh at the middle American rubes.

It was certainly the funniest film of the year. The funniest part was the ‘wrestling scene.’ I wonder what was real and what was staged.

My wife told me two people from the movie are suing Cohen. The etiquette woman who he gave the bag of shit to, and the frat guys. (They’ll never get a date again.)

Though I’ve not seen it yet, I can’t remember a film that so adroitly transcended the intellectual divide like this. Dumb people love it because it reaffirms all of the cultural stereotypes that they believe Borat represents and critiques, and smart people love the biting satire.

One of these days, I’ll have to check this Borat movie out…