Skip to Content

Gadling is giving away free tickets to Amsterdam!

Film Clips: Too Much Borat -- Who's the Man Behind the Moustache?

by Kim Voynar Nov 2nd 2006 // 11:05AM

Filed under: Comedy, Foreign Language, Celebrities and Controversy, Box Office, 20th Century Fox, Movie Marketing, Politics, Columns, Toronto International Film Festival, Cinematical Indie



Is Sacha Baron Cohen making a huge mistake by focusing on promoting his film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan solely in character? In a thoughtful piece for the AP, Ryan Pearson ponders this question, discussing Cohen's staunch refusal to step out of his Borat character for interviews, the practically unheard of insistence that print reporters pre-submit questions before being granted interviews, and the bizarre interviews themselves, at which Cohen-as-Borat reportedly reads his answers off a teleprompter. Pearson also alludes to what I see as the more important focal point of the press cult surrounding Borat: The willingness of people who are ostensibly journalists, playing along with Cohen hiding behind the Borat mask with all the tolerance of a benign parent sheepishly sitting there while their child hurls breadsticks and croutons in the general direction of other restaurant patrons, and shrugging as if to say, "Geez, what can I do? He just won't stop -- but he's so gosh-darn cute, isn't he?"

Apparently, Cohen and his people think that keeping him enmeshed in his Borat character is effective in promoting the film, and enough entertainment journalists have gone along with the gag to convince Cohen he's on the right track. I tend to agree more with Pearson's take, though -- it was one thing for Cohen to show up as Borat at the film's Toronto premiere, but it's another thing entirely journalists agree to pre-submit interview questions, or when a female reporter -- from CNN, of all places -- plays along with the Borat routine, joking about being sent back to her cage. I'll give you a minute to ponder that.

I understand the desire for access to celebrity driving all this, the thrill of landing a one-on-one interview with Cohen -- but if he's not doing the interview as himself rather than his character, what the hell is the point? I mean, sure, we all know when we interview actors and directors as part of a press tour, that they're there to promote a film, and we play along in the hopes that we can elicit enough relevant and interesting responses to our questions to justify the fact that we are, in fact, a cog in the wheel of a giant marketing machine. But if your interview subject has abandoned all pretense of answering questions in a meaningful way, and you go in knowing that -- and then print the result as if it's actually something meaningful -- haven't you pretty much cut loose whatever threads still tied you to that vast, abstract concept of journalistic integrity?

Borat has a rather dismal awareness factor with the general movie-going populace (to give some perspective here, Borat -- which is quite possibly the most brilliant political comedy of the last decade, at least -- is expected to get smoked by The Santa Clause 3 at the box office), you might think that this would be the time for Cohen to be speaking out as himself about his film and why people should want to shell out $10 to see it instead of Tim Allen doing his shtick, or cozying up to Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in the equally good (albeit slightly more dark and depressing) Babel. When even NPR is buzzing about how your film is likely to take a Snakes On a Plane-esque nosedive (and I'll just overlook that even having a reason to compare a film as relevant, entertaining and intelligent as Borat to SOAP is, in and of itself, a travesty), you know you're in trouble. You might think that it's time to drop the cutesy, "Hey look, I'm Borat!" routine and start talking about why people should get their butts to the theater to see your film, already.

Interestingly, NPR also had a story on All Things Considered today about how 18-24 year olds are expected to have a high turnout at next week's election. According to the 11th Biannual Youth Survey on Politics and Public Service from Harvard's Institute of Politics, 60% of the 18-24 year-olds polled feel our country is on the wrong track. A whopping 67% feel that President Bush is not doing a good job leading our country. They trust the United Nations than in their own government, and 44% don't trust either the Democrats or the Republicans to "handle the global war on terrorism." With the election next week, the political message behind Borat has never been more timely, and 18-24 year-olds should be near the bullseye of the marketing target for this film. But it's hard to hear the message from the man behind the mask when he keeps telling you to just ignore that man behind the curtain. Keep it funny, sure, but be relevant and give them more than "he's a funny guy in a lime-green thong" to draw them there.

Much as I like Cohen's film, this whole thing leaves a nasty taste in my mouth, and I'm starting to feel like he's the flavor of the month that just isn't going to stick. Tell us -- and Cohen -- what you think, Cinematical readers. Is he making a giant misstep hiding behind Borat and his moustache? Or is this really part of a secretly brilliant plan that will ultimately pay off at the box office? And what do you think about entertainment reporters kowtowing to the whole "Cohen-as-Borat," pre-submitted questions, interview-answers-read-off-a-teleprompter-routine?

10 Comments

Tags: all things considered, babel, borat, brad pitt, cate blanchett, cinematical, film, movie, npr, sacha baron cohen

  • Print this

Related Headlines

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Featured Galleries

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Max Payne

Hottest of 2008 Comic Con!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Quantum of Solace

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

G.I. Joe

Megan Fox

The Dark Knight

 

Sponsored Links

Weblogs, Inc. Network