I walked out of Borat.
It’s very rare me to walk out of a movie.
However the utterly dreadful “Borat” earns that dubious honour. I’ll admit, I probably don’t get the joke, as everyone else in the cinema seemed to be howling with laughter as two (already established) homophobic male characters wrestled naked on a hotel bed (whilst smashing the room up in the process) - but I just don’t find it funny. Nor did I find the incredible levels of racism acceptable (yes, I understand it’s a joke) nor the scatological humour, or the polite American hostess explaining to Borat how to use a toilet.
It’s an 84 minute film that’s 83 minutes too long (timings taken from the IMDB, I walked out at around the 40 minute mark). The character and jokes may work as a 30 second TV sketch, but not a near 90 minute movie.
Utterly dreadful.
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The moment I heard about this film I knew I would never go to see it, I think the description above has confirmed I was right.
As Tom B said, when I heard of this film, I decided it wasn’t worth seeing, even for free. You just know that Bo Selecta is going to made into a film as well - another show I absolutely detest.
I’ll admit I initially thought the same, but a couple of people recommended it to me (people who are usually right about whether a film is worth seeing or not)
Fortunately I have an “Unlimited Cinema” pass, so I didn’t fork out £6 to see it…
I’ve never ever found him funny, not any of his characters. I was amazed at the hype of this film, and of the bidding war that surrounds him making a second film.
Yuck.
It’s the sort of humour you either love or hate. Interestingly enough the Sunday Times gave it five stars, which tends to be a pretty good barometer…
OK. I accept that it may not be everyone’s cup of tea (it’s not really my kind of comedy), and it’s definitely not a balanced view of America, but it succeeds in making it’s point, even though it involves hitting you over the head with a hammer and going too far on occasion.
Yes, it’s rude, crude and manipulative, but if the sequence with the frat boys doesn’t leave you speachless that there are really people that bigoted out there, then I’m worried . . .
There are moments that are unnecessary and people are humiliated that just shouldn’t be, but if it gets the kind of people into the cinema that need to hear some home truths and have their decidedly dodgy views challenged, then it’s no bad thing.
I agree with you. I was taken aback that so many people love this film. Thanks for your post–it’s right on.
When I heard “Borat” was the next coming to comedy …I went to see the movie. WOW! That is comedy? I was laughing and it was the nervous laughter you have when you are embarresed. Between gasps and OMG’s people left, not many. I was speechless when the movie was over. What do you say if someone asks about the movie? YOu say NOTHING.
[...] I think the most notable ommision is the truely horrific Borat, Final Destination 3 (simply for the fact that the entire plot of the film is based on a continuity error in the opening sequence - let alone the technical inaccuracies in said sequence) and a swathe of copycat, CGI kids animated movies about animals escaping from the zoo/farm/woodland and ending up in Madagascar, The Wild, or Over The Hedge. [...]
Good to see Borat getting an Oscar nomination
A while back a friend told me Borat was really funny and I just *had* to see it. I finally rented the DVD. I had high expectations. Well, I just watched about one hour of Borat before turning it off. I found it far more offensive than funny. Watching someone offend unsuspecting people who are trying to be friendly/welcoming is not my idea of funny. After turning it off I decided to check the reviews online to see what reviewers had to say about it. I am saddened to see how many reviewers thought Borat was funny. I actually had to search for the string “stopped watching” to a negative review. I then searched for “walked out” + Borat to find this page. I’m glad to know I’m not the only person left in the world who isn’t completely desensitized to offensive material.
I did watch Borat all the way through, and while I think it did have a few insightful moments, it was general very poor indeed. I can see why some might find it funny, but I don’t think it was done terribly well, and I never enjoy anything that pokes fun at people for simply trying to be polite and pleasant to a stranger.
The only bit that did make me laugh was the reaction of the driving instructor when Borat greets him by kissing him on the cheek. The rest was pretty bad, and the nude scene Tom mentions was a real low-point.
I can’t believe the hype that surrounds Sascha Baron Cohen these days. He really isn’t anything special at all.