Borat conquers U. S. and A.

There have been some sad comedies this year. Employee of the Month was not funny, and worse to sit through than School for Scoundrels, which also was not funny. How pathetic is it that Will Ferrell gets more laughs out of running around in his underwear in Talladega Nights than all the giggles in You, Me and Dupree?
Ferrell, whose appeal I more than occasionally question, can at least rest assured that Talladega Nights introduced the U. S. theatrical debut of Sacha Baron Cohen. Cohen has been in films to be sure, a voice in Madagascar is just one in a long list of credits, but his last big screen Ali G. Indahouse was not released domestically. Cohen breaks through the obscurity of HBO and his Ali G. guise when Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan opens November 3.
Borat hands down takes cult status if only for the penis Polaroids but in today’s broadband digital virus world the powers that be (News Corp.) decided that Borat’s previously announced wide release of approximately 2000 should be shaved down to 800 venues. 800 is the official industry number that designates a wide release. By contrast the film Little Children is currently playing in under 50 theaters. When the movie Babel opens November 11 it will be in more than 1000 theaters.
So was the Borat pre-release Internet hype all of a sudden not producing significant numbers to the bean counters sponsoring all the MySpace screenings? Or is the humor of Borat just too much for Middle America? The answer lies somewhere between yes to both queries.
There’s evidently enough Borat footage that cutting room outtakes normally regulated to DVD extras are being sculpted into a television spin-off. Cohen has pre-sold his next movie project, a hairdresser character that he never breaks from, for $40-million to a major studio. Before you get all gooey feeling sorry for Cohen also consider that he’s romantically involved with Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers, Huckabees). Borat has no place to go but up.
Unlike Blair Witch Project, a film where people were insisting it was true weeks after it opened, the joke of Borat is knowing that Cohen’s pulling the wool over the proverbial eyeballs. Still one has to see the obviously staged sequences like one where Borat attempts to kidnap Pamela Anderson at a Virgin Superstore book signing. Releases were signed and people were duped and those are the scenes that work the best. Still, the biggest guffaws come from butt ugly moments although nothing equals the gross out levels of, say, the fluid gobbling antics of Jackass 2. Personally, the bear on the ice cream truck sequence was my favorite.
The film follows Borat walking around his primitive village announcing he’s going to America to put his newsworthy perspective on things. After all, he’s the sixth best journalist in all of Kazakhstan. After coming to New York Borat talks his obese manager into a trip to Los Angeles in order for him to meet Anderson. They lose all their money and end up strangers in a conservative land. For a guy who’s never heard of Baywatch, Borat carries a lot of clout.