British chameleon
Sacha Baron Cohen travels across America in the guise of three
totally different characters - "wanksta journalist," Ali G,
Kazakhstan's premier reporter, Borat, and the über-cool Austrian
fashionista, Brüno - covering various topics, events, and places.
CRITIQUE
Boyakasha! Check it,
"Da
Ali G Show" be a real funny show from de tele, no doubt. Me's
goin' to hexplain it now, 'aight.
The enjoyment of
this show comes from watching Ali G, Borat, and Brüno ridicule and
confuse other people in front of the camera. Sacha Baron Cohen
doesn't care if other people look at him with strange faces when
he asks ridiculous questions, he is relentless and stays in
character (though maybe editing helps that). His three characters
are all hilarious, though I'd have to say Borat is the best.
Borat's segment is called "Borat's Guide to America." The
character is just plain weird, forcing his customs and beliefs on
the people he interviews, but that's what makes him hilarious.
Cohen nails the accent and behavior of Borat, plus sometimes it
gets a little uncomfortable watching him - which goes to say Borat
is all the more funny.
Meanwhile, Brüno's
segment, "Funkyzeit mit Brüno," has mainly to do with fashion. His
interviews at the New York fashion week are really funny, as is
his visit to Hollywood and Alabama. Cohen plays him as a flamboyant kind of
guy with the obligatory Austrian accent, plus he speaks some
German, too. Ali G dominates every episode, sometimes
he'll host a roundtable discussion on various subjects, go out
into the field with his report, or feature one-on-one interviews
with prominent politicians and officials, including Richard
Thornburgh, General Brent Scowcroft, Newt Ginrich, Buzz Aldrin,
Ralph Nader, C. Everett Koop, James Baker, and Boutros
Boutros-Gali.
At his most basic,
Ali G is a wannabe rapper/hip hop kind of guy. He wears enough
bling bling to quality for this type of position. His outlook on
life may be limited to sex and drugs, but it's just for show and
fun. Cohen makes Ali G a bit more rounded around the edges,
though, spouting out semi-famous phrases like "boyakasha" and
interviewing his guests in funny ways. In short, Da Ali G Show
is a funny, half-hour TV program from HBO. The six episodes of the
first season break down like this:
Disc 1: Law, War,
Politics
Disc 2: Art,
Science, Belief
THE VIDEO
HBO presents Da Ali G Show
in 1.33:1 fullscreen format. Video quality is just fine, nothing
special. Colors look good, and there are no artifacts on the
picture. The video for Borat's segment looks weaker but it
appears to be intentional.
THE AUDIO
HBO presents Da Ali G Show
in English 2.0 Dolby Surround. Everything's pretty clear on this
track, the dialogue sounds clear and is easy to understand, plus
the optional English subtitles sure come in handy sometimes.
THE EXTRAS
All special
features are billed as "unseen shit," which is true.
On the first disc
for the first episode is natter by Sacha Baron Cohen and
series producer/writer Dan Mazer. Natter means commentary,
it's written like that on the menu. The track is okay I guess,
there's quite a bit of silence throughout. Some fun info is
gained here, but not a lot. As a fan of the show I hexpected a
little more from this.
Next are two
unseen Borat bonus clips. Borat visits the Hamptons Horse
Show (he goes on for about three minutes explaining to an
equestrian
the many similarities between a horse and a man) and the American
Patriotism Event (he brags about Kazakhstan while interviewing
an older lady, and then kind of ridicules some guy at the event).
The unseen shit on
the second disc consists of the original, unedited, full-length
Spyz movie that Ali G pitched to agents in Hollywood. The
roughly six-minute short film is pretty funny, yet also
ridiculous and amateurish (but that's the point). Ali G stars a
secret agent who must disarm a bomb that could destroy the
world. The obligatory sex scenes, which are fake but look
realistic, seem to go on forever.
Rounding out the
extras then are two text-based menu screens for the Ali G
glossary and Ali G terms. The educational value is
limited, but it's fun to read these.
The average
episode length is approximately 28 minutes, and each episode is
conveniently divided into a number of chapters. The scene
selections tell you what's what. The menus look nice, though the
background music may get annoying after a while.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I have a strong
feeling not everybody will enjoy this show, or laugh at the jokes,
because the humor is sometimes offensive. Some people may find the
characters to be fools, or not find any humor in their interviews. It depends on the individual's
mind set and taste in humor. Whatever the case, Da Ali G Show
is very funny to me and I had a fun time watching the first season
again. Fans of the show will
definitely want to own this two-disc DVD. 'Aight!
