Quote: (03-22-2014 02:38 AM)VincentVinturi Wrote:
Quote: (03-21-2014 09:27 PM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:
They're all the same: Tom Green, Sacha Baron Cohen, Vitaly, and now this little shit.
Tom Green, Vitaly and other Youtube whores are bush league. I can't lump Sacha Baron Cohen in with those amateurs.
He's a brilliant satirist. Sure, he takes cheap shots on occasion but the way he sets up feminists, nazis, Christians, anti-porn folks and other whackjobs is simply artful.
He plays stupid and gets out of the way so they can make themselves look like fools. Usually with the result that the interviewee is exposed as egotistical, self-indulgent and full of shit.
To wit:
I know that my opinions about Cohen may come across as the bile of a jealous hater. But I don't think that's my primary motivation. I also recognize that tastes in comedy will run differently for different people.
But there's something about this guy that rubs me the wrong way.
It starts with the fact that (according to what I've read) he is a very educated and intelligent dude, and attended some of England's best educational institutions. I've also heard he's devoutly religious.
With that type of background comes some degree of responsibility. To see him mincing around in his fake Ali G persona is uncomfortable to watch. First of all, he's an Englishman trying to imitate American ghetto culture, which right away smacks of fakery. The fake clothes, fake accent, fake everything. It's off-putting, and shows he's all about the cheap thrill. No sincerity, no honesty. Just craft and guile, and a willingness to exploit the baser instincts. All his schtick is the same.
Nothing wrong with intelligent guys acting like idiots. I love Monty Python and Woody Allen's stuff, because it was sincere. Even Dave Chapelle's skits were great because they tempered their edge with some self-deprecating honesty. They weren't trying to perpetrate some fraud. It was just wacky, off-the-wall stuff. Even Patrice O'Neal, the patron saint of RVF: it's all about the pain, it's all about honesty and sincerity.
But Cohen is an exploiter and an opportunist. Watching him do his fake ghetto act is like watching a minstrel show.
I know I'm in the minority on this one. And maybe I'm wrong about this guy, but where some see an innocent comedy act, I see something different.
I see a ruthless opportunist, an ice-cold exploiter who will do anything for a cheap laugh. There is no comedy here born of pathos or deep soul-searching, like Richard Pryor, Woody Allen, or even Dave Chapelle at his best.
With Cohen, it's just a guy with ice-water in his veins, humiliating people for a laugh.