Borat: Cultural Learnings of America - Page 3

DwightK · 11-05-2006, 08:47 AM

I live in possibly the reddest city in the reddest state and Borat is showing here to large audiences. Very funny. The crowd on Friday was reasonable in size and I only saw one person get up and leave so that is something. Oh and my "city" is only 50k people of mostly potato farmers and ranchers. I think Fox underestimated middle america, myself.

Famous potatoes

EricW · 11-05-2006, 01:52 PM

i saw this last night and it was very, very funny - much more so than the actual Borat sketches on the Ali G show (which usually have a couple good laughs then run way too long). here each interview just goes for the punchline and leaves. of the jokes he 'lifted' from his own show, i wish he'd taken the horse joke too, or at least put it in the credits! ('when horse cry, we say it is like a man cry'... priceless)

Sam Favate · 11-05-2006, 02:56 PM

Surpassing expectations, Borat will earn $26.4 million this weekend, according to AP. Fox is set to expand the release of the movie to 2,500 screens this week, and a Fox exec said the picture was playing to full houses around the country.

It is currently in 837 theaters, less than 1/4 the number that Santa Clause 3 and Flushed Away are playing in. Those films were #2 and #3 this weekend, respectively.

Shane Gralaw · 11-05-2006, 04:11 PM

Ok, my expectations were a little low. Loved the HBO show, but all the web/SNL type pre-release media blitz had Mr. Cohen rehashing a lot of the same jokes (#4 prostitute sister, 12 year old son Huey Lewis, ect ect). That said, this really surprised me - it is a genuinely funny picture where you can sit in a theater and have a lot of really good laughs- somewhat of a rarity in any comedy these days- usually you are in suspense for the comedy to actually deliver- no waiting here.
Some of the biggest laughs came from little call-backs (like when Borat throws his suitcase down in despair and you hear the chicken cry out or the final "Not" joke). This attention to detail is what could make this a classic. But this did feel more staged than the show. Not that that is a deal-breaker kinda problem, as this is a feature and has to build some sort of narrative momentum, but still. Part of the fun of the show is that it felt spontaneous - whereas the movie often had you wondering how much the participants knew what was happening and were acting out a Jay Leno-style segment for the camera.
But hell, it was funny. Ya go to a comedy to laugh and you WILL laugh here.

JediFonger · 11-05-2006, 09:19 PM

parts of it were certainly staged... but the funniest parts came at the non-staged portions.

MattGuyOR · 11-05-2006, 10:46 PM

GREAT MOVIE! I'm thinking the Pamela Anderson part was staged, but if so, it was very well done. Anyone know if she was in on the joke? Her security team seemed pretty bad if it wasn't staged. haha.

MikeRS · 11-06-2006, 01:22 AM

Pamela was in on it (her best acting ever

). I don't think the rest in the scene were.

There was another scenario originally filmed.

john doran · 11-06-2006, 06:39 AM

well, it's apparently done about $26 million over the weekend, which is $8 million more than its alleged $18mil budget.

not bad.

Chris · 11-06-2006, 07:16 AM

To quote Borat, and referenced in another thread:

Great Success! Borat will not be execute!