PEOPLE ARE STRANGE

Two Great New Movies About the Dysfunctionality of America

This weekend I checked out both BORAT and RUNNING WITH SCISSORS, two movies that illustrate, sometimes painfully, just what a delightfully fucked up yet strangely resilient country the United States is.

Both movies are comedies, one dark and stylized and the other a nasty, but truly hilarious satire. They are each in their own demented way among the best movies so far in 2006, a year as backloaded with quality movies as any I can remember (did anything worthwhile besides LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE come out between late June and mid-October?)

Critics have been making all kinds of outrageous statements about how hilarious BORAT is for months now. Curb Your Enthusiasm creator Larry David supposedly begged the projectionist to turn the movie off in the middle at a screening because he was afraid he would literally die laughing. Will Ferrell was so impressed with an early cut he viewed on the set of TALLADEGA NIGHTS that he supposedly sank into a depression. Blah blah blah. Let me tell you this now--chances are you won't see a funnier movie this year, but you'll probably remember laughing harder at other movies in the past if you really think about it (for me, THE JERK and BLAZING SADDLES still cause me to cry with laughter almost every time I see them. BORAT merely caused me to laugh myself hoarse.)

There's been enough press about BORAT that I will spare you my description of the movie's events and leave you to discover it's charms for yourself. I urge you to go quickly because almost everyone I know who sees it can't stop talking about their favorite parts ad nauseum, which makes it pretty hard to keep any of the movie secret, if that's important to you. I will say just two things specifically about the movie itself--Sasha Baron Cohen (Borat's real life alter-ego) is a seriously twisted, but ingeniously funny comic in the tradition of Andy Kaufman, a total "method" comedian who completely loses himself in both the character he creates and the gag he sets up until you can't help but come along for the surreal funhouse ride. The second thing is that even if you think you can figure out where the character of Borat is going in a specific scene, he almost always finds a way to take it one step farther--or one step in the wrong direction--that will have you both laughing and shaking your head in disbelief.

One minor caution: if your sense of humor tends toward the more gentile, or if you are uncomfortable with satire, especially satire that isn't stylized or rendered obvious, you probably won't like BORAT. In fact, you may be mystified by why everyone else is laughing so much. If that's the case, I recommend you go to FLUSHED AWAY instead. It will probably be more your speed. (My Grade for BORAT: A)

Meanwhile, you won't hear a lot of critical praise or buzz for RUNNING WITH SCISSORS--in fact, in some markets this September release may already be getting squeezed out of the multiplex. But if you like smart, slightly twisted movies with great performances, I suggest you try and catch SCISSORS before it disappears because frankly, it may play as too soap-opery or weird on the home TV screen.

Based on the true life memoirs of Augusten Burroughs, SCISSORS delineates the author's experiences growing up with a mentally unstable mother (played ferociously and smartly by Annette Bening) and an alcoholic, emotionally disconnected father (Alec Baldwin, continuing a string of great supporting performances this year on TV and in the movies). Eventually Augusten, who realizes in his early teens that he is gay and that his parents are nutsos, finds himself shipped off to live with an even crazier psychiatrist (brilliantly played by Brian Cox) and his own family of misfits, which include two daughters, one adopted (Rachel Evan Wood) and a gay, schizophrenic "stepson" (Joseph Fiennes, very touching) who ushers Augusten's sexual development.

I frequently complain about how movies tend to draw things out a bit in their third reel and SCISSORS is no exception, but overall Burrough's harrowing story is compelling enough and the performances good enough to carry one past any lulls in the narrative. I was especially pleased to see Jill Clayburgh, as the psychiatrist's wife, almost steal the movie with a marvelously calibrated performance. I would be happy (but surprised) to see both Clayburgh and Bening get Oscar nominations for their work here. (My Grade: B+).

The Midterms

It's not a shock or even a bold statement to say that the Republicans are failing the midterms and that even "Red State" America wants to give the donkeys a chance to try and fix the unique combination of dire problems and general malaise America now faces.

Tomorrow, if Democrats reclaim both houses of Congress and at least five gubernatorial elections, it will be a surprise but I will consider it just. If the Dems take the majority in the House and the statehouses go about 50-50 Republican and Democrat, that will be a tolerable result. But if somehow the Republicans manage to hang on to both houses of Congress, do you know what it will be? Cheating--and we can probably blame those damn Diebold electronic voting machines that I've written about before. Remember, Diebold is a major contributor to the Bush administration--Neil Bush, the president's "other" brother, once convicted for savings and loan fraud in Denver in the 1980's, once sat on Diebold's board.

The What the F**k TV Moment of the Week

What exactly was Grace Park, who plays Boomer on Battlestar Galactica (Sci Fi), doing in last week's episode? You know the scene--it seems like she's doing naked tai chi while a bewildered Dr. Baltar takes a tour of the Cylon base ship.

More importantly, can I see it again? In slow motion? Uh oh...I think my fiance is about to unplug my computer.

More after the midterms...

Peace and victory!