Another film to miss

I must admit I didn't see "Borat". I had no interest in a comic who tries to make people from the Midwest look as stupid as possible.

I don't plan to see "Bruno" because (n addition to a number of other reasons)it apparently has enough frontal nudity and sleaze to make it mind numbingly offensive. It is rather amusing to me, however, that same gay rights activists who found the skewering of Midwest Christians rip snortingly funny, are offended by Cohen going after some of the sacred cows of the left such as gay involved in the fashion industry. Apparently, Cohen can be a bit of an equal opportunity offender. They think it's "gay bashing." Here is a very well done review by Nick Nolte. This is a site for conservatives and a lot of the articles have to do with films: Look for article called "BH review" :

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/

You couldn't pay me to see it. I remember Sparkdaddy who posted on the syracuse politics forum and sometimes on the religion site who didn't like people choosing not to see films based on what they know of people involved. (That was in respect to Maher's film). This is such a big thing?!!- It happens all the time.

I read one review that said the film really demolishes "the close-minded, the bigoted, the American." Who knew the word "American" belonged in a list like that?! Obviously, the intent is to shock--every review I've seen has talked about how shocking (!!!) it is. I ask you, is there any lazier and more derivative form of social commentary than to scan the culture looking for things people treat respectfully so that you can "shock" people by treating the same things disrespectfully? First, as an "insight," that was already worn out and tired twenty years ago. When I saw an art exhibit in 1990 called Taboo that gathered together things like crucified Mickey Mouses and Bibles with nails hammered into them, I saw (before I was old enough to buy beer, mind you) that if you've seen one "transgressive" gesture, you've seen them all. Sasha Baron Cohen is a Johnny One-Note in that respect. But not only is the gesture lazy and worn out, it is, ultimately, derivative. By that I mean, Cohen's "humor" only works because of the quite tenuous thread of decency that one can still find in the culture. Without somewhat revering a flag or a cross or a Bible, etc., it makes no sense to wipe your bottom on them. So, he relies on the people he despises-without them, he'd have literally nothing to say.

But the main note I picked up on in the reviews I've read (which were uniformly positive, despite the fact that there was a little hand-wringing about how people might misinterpret his character as a gay caricature) was that this is a movie for people who live in places like Miami and NYC and San Francisco who really feel smug and superior in comparison to flyover state losers. It's a sop to the ego of secularists and cosmopolitans who feel nothing but contempt for people who hold things sacred or who love their country. They can go and watch the movie and feel infinitely superior to the stupid Americans with their stupid beliefs. As such, the movie simply disgusts me on that level alone. A brilliant and truly transgressive comedy makes the audience squirm in recognizing its own folly and its own frailty--a movie that rewards the Bill Maher crowd by telling them they're right to feel smug and superior is merely crude propaganda.