Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

What a fucking terrible film.

NOT!

(Of course, this is a Borat in-joke; I would personally never tell a "not joke".)

It took me a long time to get around to watching Borat, it must be said. But I had been reasonably interested since day one. I mean, I liked Ali G and other Sacha Baron Cohen creations back in the day on Channel 4's 11 O'Clock Show, and it was only overfamiliarity that led me to a state of "meh"-ness about the big-screen Borat outing.

Well, after about 75 minutes of constant laughing, chuckling, and "oh-my-God"-ing, suffice to say I recommend it for viewing.

SBC is great in the lead role, as is his sidekick. We know Borat is there simply to make Americans say dumb things, and that he does to perfection. It seems not to take much to get people cheerfully talking about stringing up gays or which weapons are best for slaying Jews. Oh, wait... that's not actually funny at all. It's quite disturbing.

As was the Christian church scene with people running around in the aisles and "speaking in tongues". My mouth was agape throughout that entire thing. So terrified was I that I now want to see such a service in real life. (Don't wait for the "Naaaaaaht!", cos I might just be serious here, I'm not sure yet.)

The whole thing was also directed beautifully by Larry Charles, responsible for the helming and/or writing of several episodes of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Genius.

Borat is short but sweet. I'm gonna award it a very respectable 69 points out of 100.

Mean Girls

I watched Mean Girls for a bit of a laugh, really, thinking it was something more suited to my teenage niece than to a seasoned movie-watcher like myself. It appeared on TV one Sunday night, and I happened to be sat there.

And guess what. I actually thought it was really good fun. I mean, I'm not going to rush out and buy the DVD or anything, but it was a worthwhile watch. I've certainly seen worse movies purporting to be serious fare and far worse movies that are supposed to be funny.

If you haven't seen it, I say give it a crack (if it happens to be on TV). It may not be worth actually going to a video store and paying for, y'know...

Lindsay Lohan was fun and more than a little appealing, and the rest of the cast, including 30 Rock's very own Tina Fey, was great too. Like I say, we're not talking classics here, but this is a good example of the genre. I say we give it 66 points out of 100; what say you?

le dîner de cons (aka The Dinner Game)

I had no expectations of le dîner de cons before sitting down to watch it. My wife vaguely remembered some good reviews, so we thought we'd give it a go.

The initial set-up is that every week a group of friends get together for a dinner party, each of them bringing the dumbest person they can find, hence the name of the film, which translates as "The Idiots' Dinner", more or less.

The invited idiots are asked to talk about themselves, and the person who brought the most stupid guest is declared the winner.

So far, so slapstick.

Pierre chooses François, a man who makes world landmarks out of matchsticks, as his idiot and invites him to his house prior to heading to the dinner. But Pierre injures his back, so the pair miss the meal and end up having to spend the evening together in the apartment. Throw in an ex-wife and her lover, and sit back for the fireworks.

As I said above, I had pretty low expectations. European humour doesn't always travel well to other languages (or, rather, to subtitles). But I needn't have worried. le dîner de cons was one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. I was close to rolling on the floor.

If you get the chance, you should see this instead of the forthcoming US remake, poetically titled Dinner for Schmucks (vom!). I give le dîner de cons 81 points out of 100.

Junebug

I had high hopes for Junebug because I seemed to read quite a lot of favourable reviews here and there.

The story starts with a female gallery owner (or worker, I forget which) meeting a potential art collector and soon after marrying him. On a trip to check out some work by an artist, the pair realize they are going to be near to his family home. She has never met his family, so they decide to go visit. This is where the fun both begins and ends.

It turns out that this classy, intellectual art lover of a husband actually comes from a family not far removed from trailer trash. They are nice, but they don't fully understand the new daughter-in-law and are a little hostile towards her, fearing she is being judgmental.

That is, all except the other non-blood-family member (wonderfully played by Amy Adams), who is about ready to give birth to a baby. This sweet girl really takes to the newcomer and wants to be her BFF.

This is another of those bittersweet comedies that seem so popular in Hollywood these days. They start out all comedic, and then after the first 45 minutes, it all gets really depressing and it ends up that you feel like slashing your wrists. Or just switching off and going to sleep.

The best bits are those with Adams, closely followed by the subplot about the artist, who was also played brilliantly.

I didn't mind this film, but Hollywood needs to get out of this "you mustn't laugh; life is a sack of shit" funk in which it has found itself.

Scores
Acting: 14
Story: 12
Direction: 12
Enjoyment: 12
Involvement: 13
Total: 63