Bright Star (2009) Directed by Jane Campion  Written by Jane Campion  Starring Abbie Cornish; Ben Wishaw; Paul Schneider; Kerry Fox; Edie Martin; Thomas Sangster; Gerard Monaco; Antonia Campbell-Hughes; Olly Alexander

New Zealand’s Jane Campion (The Piano) directs this beautifully composed story of the love affair between Romantic poet John Keats (Ben Wishaw) and Frances “Fanny” Brawne (Abbie Cornish), a previously unserious type with a love of witticisms, flirtation, and a talent for dressmaking. Australian native Cornish (Somersault; Stop-Loss) is perhaps best known as the real life girlfriend of Reese Witherspoon’s ex Ryan Phillipe (she was at the center of the controversy over their split), but she is a gifted young actress who lights up the screen as a woman experiencing all encompassing love for the first time. American Indie fave Paul Schneider plays Charles Armitage Brown, a man dedicated to the talent of his friend Keats, who is protective of his talent and suspicious (and perhaps even jealous) of the mutually obsessive love that develops between Fanny and the poet. The story is based on the real life events in the lives of these neighbors, who lived next door to one another at Wentworth Place. Keats suffered from Tuberculosis, and died in 1821 at age twenty five. During his short life, he was harshly received by critics, and never experienced popular or financial success of any kind. Both Keats and Fanny came from similar backgrounds, as both of their fathers were London Innkeepers. At the time of their meeting, however, Fanny’s family was comfortable, while Keats was impoverished, a fact that made their coupling a near impossibility. Though the story is obviously a tragically romantic one, Campion resists the kind of overly dramatic flourishes often seen in films of the type. The plot is familiar, with all the angst one expects from a tale focusing on the ill-timed meeting of two early 19th century would-be lovers, but the relationship is (for the genre) subtley detailed. Sumptuous visuals (from cinematographer Greig Fraser) and understated elegance mark this well calibrated historical drama

An Education (BRIT) Directed by Lone Scherfig  Written by Nick Hornby  Starring Carey Mulligan; Peter Skarskaard; Alfred Molina; Cara Seymour; Olivia Willimas; Emma Thompson; Dominic Cooper; Rosemund Pike

Movies - or, at least those intended for a mass commercial market, have historically depended on casting actors who are well known to the paying public. Often the very films themselves are based around the on screen personas these leading men and women have established throughout their careers, with producers and studios depending on this symbiotic relationship between stars and their audiences. It’s nice then to view a bigger film headed by an actor who was previously unknown to most ticket buyers - even better when the actor highlighted is one who seems so obviously destined for a long and successful career

The actor in question, and centerpiece of An Education, is one Carey Mulligan, a fresh faced twenty four year old Brit who has done most of her previous work on the English stage and in television.  Playing  precocious sixteen/seventeen year old high school student Jenny, Mulligan looks appropriately young, and is fittingly brimming with dewey-eyed eagerness, underpinned emotion, and energy. One is struck by the notion of an actor being perfectly cast. 

Directed by fifty year old female Dane Lone Scherfig (Italian for Beginners), An Education is based on  journalist Lynn Bolber’s slim memoir, which detailed her romantic relationship with an older man. Set in 1961, still the beginning of the famed mod period in London, the screenplay is by novelist Nick Hornby (High Fidelity; About a Boy), who took the basics of the source material  (which was originally published in the literary journal Granta) and ran with it.

While Mulligan’s presence dominates the film, the rest of the cast is also excellent: Peter Skarsgaard (as Jew David Goldman) does a British variation on his usual semi-creepy guy; Alfred Molina is Jenny’s working class father Jack; Cara Seymour, Mom Marjorie; Emma Thompson, the Headmistress of her all girls school; Olivia Williams, her English teacher, Miss Stubbs; Dominic Cooper, David’s rich, art-collecting/playboy friend Danny; and Rosamund Pike, his vacuous, beautiful blonde girlfriend Helen.

Though the coming of age aspect of the story may be far from novel, Jenny’s internal life is nicely and subtlely evoked. Cello playing, Francophile Jenny longs to attend Oxford to read English, but she is aware that regardless of what lies in the offing there is little available for her professionally besides the promise of teaching at an all girls school like the one she attends. A neophyte aesthete with a youthful pretentious streak, Jenny loves art, literature, music, and film, but desires experiences that, at her age and station, are well beyond the reach of modest suburban London Twickendam.

Thankfully, the film avoids pandering to us or to Jenny’s character by delivering a reasonably rounded portrait of a young woman in the process of trying to grow in a conservative, repressive era when women were afforded little in the way of life choices, and her journey reflects the kinds of mistakes that are an inherent part of this maturation process. If she is exploitated (and there is most definitely an uncomfortable sexual component to the story due to her age), then she at least partially complicit, so desperate is she to discover all that life has in store, regardless of (and perhaps even because of) the narrow path she has been told is her destiny.

Summer Hours (L’heure d’ete) (FR) Directed by Olivier Assayas  Written Olivier Assayas  Starring Juliette Binoche; Charles Berling; Jeremie Renier; Isabelle Sadoyan; Edith Scob; Dominique Reymond; Valerie Bonneton; Kyle Eastwood; Alice de Lencquesaing

An exquisitely executed film from fifty five year old French director Olivier Assayas. Assayas has often been associated with grittier material (Clean; Irma Vep), although there is a historcial drama (Les Destinees sentimentales) in his ouevre as well, and the ex Cahiers du Cinema critic has long been an ardent supporter of Asian filmmakers (Hou Hsiao-hsien; Edward Yang, et al) working in the realm of minimalistic neo-realism. His expressed affinity for these films that are principally about behavior, character, and tone as opposed to plot is in evidence here moreso than in any of his previous work. This is Assayas’ best work to date, an example of an experienced  director (with over twenty films to his name) hitting his proverbial stride. Summer Hours benefits from an exceptional cast, and has the feel of one of the great Eric Rohmer summer films (perhaps the title is no accident?), albeit with an updated sensibility. The mundane seeming subject matter - namely, a well-off trio of siblings gathered at their elderly mother’s rural estate, and later the decisions foisted upon them regarding the disposition of the inherited property (which includes valuable post-impresrionistic artwork and art nouveau furniture), might seem uninvolving on the surface, but Assayas (who also wrote the script) manages to infuse narrative tension as the pedestrian events unfold. One keeps anticipating the shoe dropping in the various spots where movie cliches would normally lay siege, but Assayas refuses to let us off that easy, opting to allow the characters enough elbow space to interact in a potentially less dramatic, but ultimately more human and satisfying way. As a result, there are no villains or heros to be found, merely individuals with a mix of strengths, weaknesses, agendas, perspective, and sometimes conflicting emotions. The leads - Edith Scob as silver-haired seventy five year old matriarch, Helene, the niece of a well-known French artist; Charles Berling as her eldest son, economics professor and author Frederic; Juliette Binoche as designer daughter Adrienne; and (Dardenne Brothers regular) Jeremie Renier as their brother, sneaker company executive Jeremie, are all fantastic. The supporting players, including Isabelle Sadoyan as housekeeper Eloise and Alice de Lencqueraing as teen grandaughter Sylvie, are equally as natural (Clint Eastwood’s son also appears as Adrienne’s boyfriend James). This is a deftly balanced treat that manages to artfully weave any number of provocative subjects and ideas (globalization; family history; the erosion of familial connections as siblings age; technology; the lasting importance of traditional art) in its nuanced meld of images and dialogue.

Public Enemies (USA) (2009) Directed by Michael Mann  Written by Michael Mann; Ronan Bennett; Anne Biderman  Starring Johnny Depp; Marion Cotillard; Christian Bale; Billy Crudup; Jason Clarke; Stephen Dorff; Stephen Graham Leelee Sobieleski; Channing Tatum; Giovanni Ribisi; James Russo; Shawn Hatosy; Emile De Ravin; Lily Taylor; Rory Cochrane; Lili Taylor; Carey Mulligan; Branka Katic

Based on a book by Bryan Burroughs, Public Enemies is a technically superior offering with impressive set design and cinematography from the maniaical one, Michael Mann (Thief; Heat; The Insider; Ali). While the film is cooly composed (shot by longtime Mann collaborator, Italian Dante Spinotti (Heat; Wonder Boys; LA Confidential; The Insider), for many this one may be lacking enough demonstrable humanity to truly connect on a visceral level. Johnny Depp is just fine as John Dillinger, the infamous midwestern bank robber who managed to capture the imagination of the depression era American public. Unfortunately, he is the only character we learn anything about, and even his interior journey is far from fully illuminated. Thusly, the main supporting players: Marion Cotillard (as love interest Billie Frechette); Christian Bale (as FBI agent Melvin Pervis); and Billy Crudup (in a strange piece of casting as a young J Edgar Hoover) are each given a few moments, but not nearly enough for us to feel connected to their individual stories. The rest - Jason Clarke (as partner in crime Red Hamilton); Stephen Graham (terrible American accent as the violent Baby Face Nelson); and Stephen Dorff (as another Dillinger accomplice, Homer Van Meter) are essentially given short shrift, with little opportunity to demonstrate any real development. Further, a parade of recognizeable actors like James Russo; Emilie De Ravin; Giovanni Ribisi; Shawn Hatosy; Channing Tatum; Lily Taylor; Rory Cochrane; and Leelee Sobieski appear and are gone in a blink of an eye, making their inclusion a curiosity at best. There is simply a morass of characters and events thrown at us - something that makes the film (despite the long run time) a bit of a blur, though it should be noted that the action scenes are brilliantly executed and realistic feeling. In fairness too, the events of Dillingers life were rather of a whirlwind nature as he travelled from state to state robbing banks and hiding out; was arrested more than once (and escaped several times); and was involved in mutiple shootouts with police, all in the course of several years. Captured in HD, the film has some marvelous set pieces (many of them in the actual original, real life locations), though the modern shooting style is not a traditional one for an historical epic. While there are a few emotional moments with Frechette and Dillinger (Depp and Cotillard do their best with what they are given), for the most part the visuals, mis en scene, and action sequences take precedence, and all the panache and period/location authenticty simply can’t overcome the paucity of fully realized human characters, who mostly manifest as movie constructs. Credit should be given to Mann for caring enough to go to the lengths he does to recreate historical events, but at the heart of most films are the characters that we either buy as people and care about or don’t. While there is nothing wrong with the performances here, especially those from talented, committed actors like Depp and Cotillard, there is only the writing and director to point to when a film is somehow less than the sum of its meticulously rendered parts.

Che (USA) Directed by Stephen Soderbergh  Written by Peter Buchanan; Benjamin A. Van der Deer  Starring Benecio Del Toro; Demian Bichir; Catalina Sandino Moreno; Franka Potente; Victor Rasuc; Rene Lavan; Edgar Ramirez; Rodrigo Santoro; Yul Vasquez Lou Diamond Phillips; Matt Damon; Julia Ormond

At 271 minutes, Che is divided into two films, but director Steven Soderbergh ’s intent was for them to be seen together. Soderbergh again acts as his own cinematographer (using psuedonym Peter Andrews), further demonstrating why he is among the world’s best visual filmmakers. Che stars Benecio Del Toro as the titular Argentinian Dr. Ernesto Che Guevera, who gives a startlingly realistic, singular performance, one that rivals Sean Penn’s recent turn as Harvey Milk in its understated ease. The films are based on two books by Che - Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War and A Bolivian Diary (biographer John Henderson served as consultant). The overall pacing is deliberate, and Soderbergh uses a hand-held verite style to great effect, giving us a real sense of immediacy. Part One (the stronger and more cohesive of the two) finds the asthmatic Che in Mexico, and details his introductory meeting with Fidel Castro (Demian Bichir) and their 1956 boat ride to Cuba with a tiny initial rebel force totaling 80. From there, we see Che’s participation in the overthrow of U.S. backed Fulgencio Batista. The training and battle scenes are juxtaposed with artfully done black and white recreated footage of Che’s later visit to the U.N. in New York City in 1964. Part 2 is entirely focused on Che’s resignation from the Cuban government and his time in Bolivia leading the revolution there. Despite the run time, Soderbergh opted for an approach that produced anything but a sweeping biopic - instead, we are given a story that wavers between linear and non-linear modes, leaving out information and assuming an audiences familiarity with the story of Che’s early life (see Motorcycle Diaries). Unfortunately, omitted too is key information about Che’s post-revolution activities in Cuba, including his participation in torture, beatings, and El Paredon, the firing squads that executed countless Cuban citizens. We also skip Che’s time following his resignation and covert departure from Cuba that included failures in the African Congo and Guatemala. Che is brilliantly subtle, and contains wonderfully naturalistic performances, and top-notch cinematography, and while the pace and length is a challenge the viewing is rewarding. Still, responsibility for the portrait (including what is not there) falls on the filmmaker and is a major factor in how the end product will ultimately be judged. After a complicated situation with Blockbuster involving DVD distribution was finally resolved, Che is now available on DVD. Perhaps more people will get a chance to see it than did so at the theaters where the film was never widely released.

Up in the Air Directed by Jason Reitman  Written by Jason Reitman; Sheldon Turner  Starring George Clooney; Vera Famiga; Anna Kendrick; Jason Bateman; Danny McBride; Melanie Lynskey; Amy Morton; Sam Elliott; JK Simmons; Zach Galifinakis

As Hollywood continues to churn out its ceaseless parade of banal, vapid pablum there is, seemingly, a steadily increasing dearth of films made for adults with a functioning brain. This is not to contend that Up in the Air is a particularly trenchant, innovative, or intellectually challenging experience, but compared to what passes for mainstream, mass marketed quality nowadays, this one is something of an anomaly. It’s an example of what one might imagine modern Hollywood films could be - big stories with movie stars to appeal to wider audiences, but containing enough discernible intelligence and humanity to make the characters and events recognizable as something vaguely real-life-like.

Following Juno and Thank You For Smoking, Jason Reitman, Up in the Air’s talented 32 year old director,  has now made three engaging films in a row (his first three, by the way) - something that cannot be said for many directors working within the system. The Los Angeles native, and offspring of long time comedy director/producer Ivan Reitman (who also produces here), is quickly establishing himself as a unique voice with an eye for quality material.

George Clooney plays Clooney here - officially Ryan Bingham, a corporate axe man working for a Nebraska based company who finds himself facing professional extinction (or at least reorganization). As one of our most well-known bachelors, Clooney might be channeling aspects of his own personal life, inhabiting a character who defiantly rails again the merits of permanent personal attachment. Ryan spends most of his year on the road, commuting state to state by way of a series of rental cars, low grade luxury hotels, airports, lounges and bars, and planes; taking pleasure in the benefits his frequent flyer business status affords him.  On the side, he accepts paid motivational speaking gigs, preaching the beauty of a life unencumbered  to corporate conference audiences.

Ryan’s age is never specified, though (given Clooney’s real life numbers) we would have to assume that he is at least 45, making him a middle-aged man on the downslope.  Though evidently oblivious to the emptiness and shallowness that define his personal life (he appears virtually unfazed when an ongoing sexual relationship with his younger, attractive next door neighboor ends), as well as the shaky morality of what he does for a living, it seems inevitable that at some point in the future he will be in for a realization that he is, in fact, alone.  This is the crux of the film, so of course we are privy to the set of circumstances that will lead him to confront his existence.

Enter into the mix four women who will have a profound (though not individually predictable) impact on the way Ryan views his lifestyle and future. Vera Famiga is Alex, a slightly younger version of Ryan himself, a well coiffed businesswoman equally game for a romantic relationship devoid of obligations, commitment, or ties. Anna Kendrick plays Natalie, an Ivy educated, uptight whiz kid neophyte out to change the way the company does business. Finally, Melanie Lynskey and Amy Morton are Ryan’s neglected younger sisters, people he has all but cut out of his solitary life. Traveling back to Wisconsin for one of their weddings, however, he is forced to again deal with them, as well as his self-imposed exile from his home and extended family.

Up in the Air is based on the 2001 novel (Reitman and Sheldon Turner wrote the script) by Walter Kirn, who previously penned Thumbsucker (1999), which too was subsequently made into a quality film. Shot by Eric Steelberg (Juno; 500 Days of Summer), the visuals are excellent, and there is (like in Juno) a creative opening credit sequence. There are also several effective segments featuring real life fired workers from Detroit and St. Louis who were told they were being interviewed for a documentary, a facet that imbues the film with a resonance it might have otherwise lacked. These portions were added in response to the recent economic downturn, a decision that ties the film to the many Americans who have recently faced layoffs and firings themselves.   

Danny McBride has an amusing turn as Ryan’s soon to be brother in law. Cameos by JK Simmons; Sam Elliott; and Zack Galifanakis add flavor. Downsizing and the ongoing technologization of the workplace are relevant and timely themes, and there are ideas about family/commitment/love as it relates to personal freedom and professional success. The theme of human connectivity runs throughout the film as well, as Ryan begins confronting his life as others see it, with the cold anonymity of traveling on the road juxtaposed with the warmth of Ryan’s hometown roots. A quality, well paced story with a bevy of humor, snappy dialogue, and engaging performances from an impressive cast.

Invictus (USA) Directed by Clint Eastwood  Written by Anthony Peckham  Starring Morgan Freeman; Matt Damon; Tony Kgorogue; Marguerite Wheatly; Patrick Mofoheng; Patrick Lyster; Julian Lewis Jones; Leliti Khumalo

The prolific Clint Eastwood gives us this adaptation (by screenwriter Anthony Peckham) of the book Playing the Enemy by John Carlin. The story focuses on the newly elected South African President Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) and his attempts to rally the country around the national rugby team, The Springboks, a squad that served as a longstanding symbol of white separatism, and allegiance to a government that treated blacks as something less than human.  

This is not the Mandela bio-pic one might have expected. The sweeping scope fits director Eastwood’s strengths, but Mandela’s entire personal and professional past, incarceration, eventual release and political ascension, world wide human rights activism, and national and international political life as president are not examined in any detail. Instead, the film focuses on a specific place in time, concentrating on one aspect of Mandela’s early leadership. This approach allows Eastwood to dodge the kind of episodic torpor that often afflicts films about the lives of famous people, but, perhaps naturally, much is lost in the tradeoff.  

Mandela, an attorney who spent twenty seven years in prison due to Apartheid, was elected in 1994 at age seventy five, largely by blacks who were newly allowed to vote. Facing monumental challenges in uniting a violently divided country, he chose to retain the old national anthem, as well as the rugby team (both important symbols of the old South Africa), but attempted to co-opt both by altering what they stood for. The struggling team became a vehicle toward which he could channel common and collective energy, and eventually the team would, improbably, meet the heavily favored juggernaut All Blacks from New Zealand in the World Cup final.

Invictus is Latin for unconquered, a term taken from a William Ernest Henley poem that inspired Mandela while locked up on Robben Island (where ironically he also routed against the Springboks). A bit of a paint by numbers affair, at two hours and fourteen minutes the film also feels a bit long. Freeman looks the part, and though the accent is far from pristine he has the necessary gravitas to play a man known and revered the world over, something that couldn’t be said for many actors, famous or not. While the lack of consistent accent is a tad distracting, and his performance strays far from impression, he seems to capture the spirit of the man, and this hard to define aspect of his portrayal redeems the representation, making it an ultimately successful one.   

Though significantly physically smaller than the real life man, Matt Damon is nonetheless fine as team captain Francois Pienaar. Damon clearly bulked/toned up for the role, and seems believable in the hard hitting sports action sequences, though American audiences may be kinder in their assessment in this area than those located in places where the sport is a national obsession. The film attempts to bridge this gap for non-fans by having the players explain the rules to a group of children at one point, although it probably doesn’t matter. Like The Longest Yard , Hoosiers , Victory, and others of the type, Invictus rests in our buying in just enough to root for the underdog team as we’re supposed to, and in this regard the rules and regulations are probablysomewhat irrelevant.    

Too many platitudes and grand pronouncements are woven into the dialogue, making the film preachy and didactic in places, something that distances an audience from buying the charcters as actual people as opposed to stock types. Also, the pervading atmosphere feels more than a bit sanitized, with nary a racial epithat uttered - perhaps all but impossible in a country of extreme systemic racial intolerance, especially during this tumultuous period when tensions were at a fevered pitch.  Further, though the main supporting players are excellent, there are some clunky moments from a few of the bit actors, a fact that rehearsals, more takes, and/or directorial massaging (practices abhored by director Eastwood) might have helped to solve.  These combined factors weaken a film with excellent visuals, solid sports action, and an emotion inducing ending.

Invictus is not, by any means, a great film, and by nature of its structure it gives short shrift to one of the most heroic figures in modern times. As a sports film, however, it does its job.

Paper Heart (USA) Directed by Nicholas Jasenovic  Starring Charlene Yi; Michael Cera; Jake Johnson

Paper Heart plays loose and fancy free with fact and fiction in its quasi-documentary approach. The idea is that actor/musician Yi (the stoned girl from Knocked Up) has never been in love and wonders if she even has the capacity for it. She travels through various parts the country (including Texas; Oklahoma; Nevada; and Tennesse) talking to scientists, professors, wedding chaplains, friends, relatives, and strangers alike about the science, philosophy, and nature of romantic love. Although there are some sweet moments with Yi and actor Michael Cera there are just as many that feel contrived and false. There has been some degree of speculation as to whether the relationship between the two is/was real or not, but there is no doubt that their scenes together (regardless of their actual/real life relationship) are being acted. Further, an actor, Jake Johnson, is playing the actual director Nicholas Jasenovic, the only other major character in the film. While the meta aspect is interesting and holds a lot of potential the film doesn’t provide much in the way of revelation about it leads, or, for that matter, the larger question at hand, as the interview subjects are only mildly interesting. This one’s (paper) heart is in the right place, but is indeed so lightweight that it seems as if it will blow away at any moment. Yi, who has a rather strange, monotone affect, is clearly a guarded person, but delving deeper into her past and her reasons for being so closed off in the first place would have likely made for more compelling viewing. It’s problematic when an individual attempts to make a personal documentary without truly putting themselves out there, which is precisely where the invented (or at least acted) relationship comes in. Unfortunately, this very artifice impedes what might have been a truly interesting and poignant exploration of a real young woman looking at her own fears and doubts about love, and her own future.

Somers Town (BRIT) Directed by Shane Meadows Written by Paul Fraser Starring Thomas Turgoose; Piotr Jagiello; Irenevsk Czop; Elisa Lasowski; Perry Benson

At barely 70 minutes, Shane Meadows’ latest skirts the parameters of what is usually considered a feature length film. The story focuses on troubled fourteen year old Tomo (Thomas Turgoose; star of Meadows’ This is England), who travels by train from his home in The Midlands to Somers Town, a section of London near Kings Cross and St. Pacras Station. Meadows is a filmmaker who likes to tell stories about the area and milieu with which he is familiar (The Midlands) so shifting locations is as big for him as it was for The Dardenne brothers recent locale change in Lorna’s Silence.  Though we don’t get a full explanation of his back story, Tomo (Turgoose’s real life nickname, by the way) is either abandoned or a runaway, but whatever the case he quickly finds himself homeless, penniless, and living on the mean streets of his newly adopted home. He befriends Marek (Piotr Jagiello), an introverted Polish teen who’s into photography and has only recently moved to the area with his father, hard-drinking construction worker Marusz (Irenevsk Czop). The two mismatched boys spend time with one another, fantasizing about older local French waitress Maria (Elisa Lasowski) and working for lawn chair renter/council estate neighbor Graham (Perry Benson). Filmed almost entirely in black and white, Somers Town was (oddly) conceived and financed by Eurostar and was originally turned down by Meadows because he worried there was a corporate agenda lurking behind the funding, though he suggested frequent collaborator (and childhood neighbor) Paul Fraser as writer. Fraser wound up writing the script, and then Eurostar came back to Meadows, who then became interested. Though the original idea was for a feature, the project was actually written, developed, and budgeted as a short right up until the actual start of principal photography, but Meadows shot long days and extended takes, somehow turning it into a feature (albeit a short one) as he went. Music by Gavin Clark (whom Meadows also made a doc about) and Ted Barnes is moody and fitting, although the songs are very similar to one another in sound and were probably used in a few more places than were necessary, including several montages that feel slightly out of place given the overall style of the film. It must be said that, perhaps owing to the short script and lack of shooting days, the story itself feels a little underdeveloped - more about Maria and both of the boys backgrounds would have been nice. Nonetheless, an interesting slice of life from a director who continues to produce quality work.

Bruno (USA) Directed by Larry Charles  Starring Sasha Baron Cohen

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why Sasha Baron Cohen’s latest is less effective then his previous effort. Perhaps the schtick is growing wearisome? Perhaps the wide appeal of Borat raised expectations too high? Even long time fans of Cohen’s work (on British TV and HBO) might be looking for him to take his act to another level. Larry Charles (Curb Your Enthusiasm) again directs, and the formula is very similar to Borat. Cohen plays a foreign character who comes to the US, behaving in an outrageous manner, which shocks those unsuspecting “real life” American participants and onlookers. There are laughs to be had here - assuming one isn’t easily offended by male nudity and simulated gay sex (and the bevy of jokes having to do with the same). While there is a legitimate inherent satirical statement about our intolerance as human beings (and as a nation), the delivery is less subtle. Not that Borat didn’t have its share of in your face sex and scatalogical bits, but Cohen and Charles are relying even less on character based humor here and more on in your face gay sex antics to elicit laughs. It feels a bit forced in places, though one has to give the comedien some kudos for sheer, utter audacity. Envelope pushing comics/performance artists (ala Andy Kaufman) always eventually confront issues having to with topping themselves, and it will be interesting to see what Cohen comes up with in an attempt to veer in a slightly different direction as clearly this process has run out of a bit of steam. There is no doubt that his ability to fully commit by immersing himself into these characters, and then tossing them into the world, marks him as possessing a singular talent. What he does with that going forward in terms of ongoing comedic innovation is another matter.