borat: cultural yawnings for lisa

for at least fifteen years of my life, i saw at least one film a week in a movie theatre. that's 780 movies, and that doesn't include the years before and since, when my movie consumption wasn't quite so high. but during that time, i can remember walking out of only one movie, some goldie hawn or shelley long piece of dreck. which means i didn't walk out of such classics as born american, twins, mr. wrong, or hard to kill.

but i had to walk out of borat. it made my brain hurt and sucked my soul out.

it's not that i don't think sacha baron cohen is talented, because i do. when he's not in character, i even think he's hot. i'm not easily offended by crude humor -- i can swear and make a sailor blush, and i think the shower scene in porkys is bed-wettingly brilliant.

i just found nothing even remotely funny about borat. i chortled once -- when he made a joke about the president. but that was a rhetorical, reflex chortle. i remember counting the laughs in there's something about mary. my laughs, that is. i think i counted 4. well that was 3 more than borat. i couldn't even force myself to stay long enough to see the "naked wrestling" scene that cohen joked about during his golden globe acceptance speech. come to think of it, his acceptance speech was approximately 400% more funny than the movie.

i love to laugh. whether it's the daily show, bill maher, ugly betty, or the "hot topics" segment on the view, i seek out laughter. but borat left me laughless. go figure.