The (Now-Overrated) ILX Top 100 Films of the 2000s Poll Results

WAHT?! I totally forgot that Bradley Cooper was in Wet Hot American Summer.

and eric out of curiosity, can you elaborate a little on this, about AI? i didn't mind the movie but i thought it was kind of a jumble and i'm not really sure what you mean.

the movie turns into one of the smartest, most philosophical mass market movies of the decade, a pitch that crescendos all the way up to the mother. fucking. credits.

― hellzapoppa (tipsy mothra), Friday, February 5, 2010 8:44 PM (50 seconds ago)

yes, I'm curious about what you meant by that, too.

Too busy at work right now. Suffice it to say Rosenbaum said it better than I ever could.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/borat2.jpg

i have a low tolerance for embarrassment humor so big stretches were super uncomfortable for me, but jesus christ there are a million moments that are just not on film in any other way anywhere

― geoff

This was quite funny in parts, but my laughter felt strangely hollow, if such a thing is possible. In the end, a man acting the goat, coupled with a few Americans (not that many, in the end) caught being racist and sexist didn't add up to that much. My favourite bit was the bear and the ice-cream van kids, which was like a Perry Bible Fellowship cartoon.

― Alba

In my opinion, the whole anti-semitism thing, as funny as it was, was too heavy-handed to be an effective social commentary. Also, even if Pamela Anderson was in on the joke (which I suspect she was), the scene with her was too close to a sexual attack to make me laugh. Borat getting people to agree (or disagree) with his sexist comments can be funny, but playing a sexual attack for jokes is a bit too much. In comparison, I don't think people would've laughed if he would've started to hurl anti-semitic rants to the Jewish couple who's house he was staying in (which would've been in character). It's only funny when the joke's on the bigot/sexist.

I really liked the main story in the film, and I don't think I've laughed so hard at the cinema for ages, but I think the film was too much in between a social satire and a politically incorrect comedy to be effective as either. A totally enjoyable film, but less than the sum of it's parts.

― Tuomas

the gypsy bit was weirdly hilarious, and very clever, the way he acts like you have to be authoritative but also cautious with gypsies, like "I am going to look through your treasures, gypsy. IS THIS OK?"

I have to say while I can see the point of the film exposing backward views or whatever, a lot of the impact seems to be in the fact that it makes racist or anti-semitic jokes, these jokes are powerful because they are seldom allowed to be made.

Once the setting has been made "ok" for people, then you get this raucous outpouring of laughter. Some of the "FUNNIEST MOVIE EVER" type reviews kind of make me feel this a bit more intensely, like people are laughing with the relief of being able to laugh at stuff that would normally be taboo.

I suppose you hope people think about how anti-semitic, sexist etc Borat is, I mean he's obviously a cartoon character, but I'm not sure that people ponder the fact that they just laughed at anti-semitism, maybe it doesn't matter.

I guess Borat brings out the worst in some of the Americans he speaks to, but then perhaps the film also exposes European attitudes towards Eastern Europeans...

― Ronan

Larry Charles to direct Borat movie

#62

Borat
Larry Charles
2006
United Kingdom/United States
(295 points, 16 votes, 1 first place)

WAHT?! I totally forgot that Bradley Cooper was in Wet Hot American Summer.

Yeah, that joint is jam-packed with people who were destined to be come waaay bigger down the road.

I don't think it's possible to access old Rosenbaum reviews on the ChiReader site anymore, so I await Eric's amplification later.

OMG BORAT LOOOOOOL

T/F? Chris Meloni was funnier in Wet Hot... than in Harold & Kumar. (hint: True)

WHAS is totally flawed and wonky and kind of broken, but really happy to see it here. fantastic comedic turn by Meloni, so gonzo and out of character (esp since it hink i was rolling through the later seasons of OZ when i saw it).

Kung Fu Hustle is great, and yeah, im one of those dudes that prefers it to shaolin soccer, morbius otm regarding it as an heir to looney-tunes madness, and stephen chow is the sort of unified force that hasnt been present in foreign cinema for a while.

SInce we're keeping it positive today, I will shut the hell up about AI and Elephant.

xpost: ahaha well obv i say true

Laughed my ass off at Borat, not a great comedy film tho

Borat has enough golden moments in it to be well regarded - would make my top 40 "movies i enjoyed", but didnt make my "films i respect" list if that makes any sense.

ok to be fair KFH and WHAS would also make it into the first rather than second category (which is why i didnt vote for any of these three, but i do think theyre fantastic).

Borat was so much more bizarre than I'd been led to expect. Lots of the coverage over here was lol stupid Americans, but the anti-semitism stuff, especially the bit where Borat thinks their Jewish landlord and landlady have turned into rats, is authentically berserk. The reprehensible real-life treatment of the Romanian villagers only adds to the discomfort at the core of the movie. Also, nude wrestling.

I'm thinking Notre Musique is not going to rank here

i voted borat - audience at the theater was APESHIT and i personally could not breathe - srsly unlike any movie viewing experience ive had

WHAS and Borat are intermittently funny but both are pretty shitty as films/movies - neither is particularly well-made or warrants watching more than once

(sad to see them beat the waaaaay superior H&K)

Didn't vote for it, but I definitely would have liked Borat better if it had dropped the plot and just stuck to the skits a la Jackass, which I did vote for and almost put Jackass 2 in there as well (i think it's a better film, maybe Jackass 3-D will bring it to Avatar levels).

rescr**ned Borat lately and all we did was ffwd thru the plot dreck.

T/F? Chris Meloni was funnier in Wet Hot... than in Harold & Kumar. (hint: True)

Wait, wait. Harold & Kumar has Meloni in Funny Mode? Okay, between that fact and its placing on this poll, I'm officially interested in seeing H&K for the first time ever. And my ever-growing respect for and enjoyment of Neil Patrick Harris certainly helps.

that nude wrestling completely upended the movie imo

completely upended me with convulsive laughter!!

WHAS and Boratmost half-decent comedy films are intermittently funny but both are pretty shitty as films/movies - neither isnot many are particularly well-made or warrants watching more than once

Fixed.

Meloni is BIZARRE in Harold & Kumar. It's a whole different kind of character, but very funny indeed.

nude wrestling was one of the most insane things

i feel like i shouldve vote borat higher based on how much im enjoying remembering it rite now

I would argue, though, that WHAS certainly warrants multiple viewings, if only for all of the completely goofy stuff you might not catch the first time (i.e. the completely intentionally awful stunt shots on the motorcycle).

I wish I hadn't been told about every joke and shocking scene in Borat before I had seen it. would have made it a lot more enjoyable.

haven't seen WHAS yet, another for my list

intentionally awful stunt shots on the motorcycle

See, that's what's missing from Spielberg's magnum opus

Most of the time when comedians go "too far" it's pretty calculated and the targets are obvious, but the wrestling and rat scenes both have an air of (seemingly) genuine hysteria and strangeness.

whas

1 good thing: hilarious through and through.
1 bad thing: doesnt go on forever

borat

1 good thing: consistent hearty lols
1 bad thing: makes me feel pretty bad for laughing--not really sure all the liberal rationalizations hold up

1 bad thing: doesnt go on forever

<3

but I definitely would have liked Borat better if it had dropped the plot and just stuck to the skits a la Jackass

shasta otm -- the movie really grinds to a halt when they get sidetracked by the pam anderson nonsense. the nude wrestling also was one of the worst part of the movie, at least up until the part where they run through the convention naked waving the dildo. it was a cheap shock gag that borat proved it could be way above. (and anyway it made more sense in the context of 'bruno' even tho it was equally as unfunny)

You could be onto something, Morbs...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/audition1999-still_large.jpg

Audition made me squirm like I hadn't since I was 12. I didn't even know I could experience that emotion anymore.

― less-than three's Christiane F.

Audition: His best. I don't care if he never tops it, it's a bit like complaining Coppola never topped The Godfather.

- Edward III

Look at Audition, the subtle shifts in dynamics, the amazing range of lighting set-ups, framing devices, etc. (I think this one took a whopping 3 weeks to film.)

― Ian G

I could barely watch the last ten minutes, there's just no way to prepare for something like that...

- helpsuit

#61

Audition
Takashi Miike
2000
Japan
(296 points, 14 votes, 1 first place)

that nude wrestling completely upended the movie imo

― Dan S, Friday, February 5, 2010 1:07 PM (4 minutes ago)

this scene was "borrowed"* pretty much from Jackass 2 in which guest-skit-director John Waters has Wee Man on a bed and gets a 400 pound naked woman to belly flop on him, then Waters pretends he's unhappy with the take, then on the next take (unknown to Wee Man) he substitutes the equally rotund Preston Lacy for the woman to do the same belly flop.

*Jackass 2 only came out a couple months before Borat iirc, not sure this was intentional or not.

takashi miike

feeling bad abt laughing is the quality that elevates borat to rarefied realms

I think the wrestling scene in "Borat" is so effective (and it completely reduced the theater I was in to hysterics) because it's completely gratuitous and unexpected - whereas in "Bruno" it seems like most of the movie is deliberately trying to one-up that scene, and it ends up feeling calculated and somewhat dutiful.

I never understood the love for Audition (and Miike in general)...

xpost
^^interesting...didn't see Jackass 2

Audition is a film I got for free years ago and have never watched. I still don't know if I ever will. (Similar story- got Anti-Christ for free this week, am wondering if Gainsbourg's WSness is enough make me sit through it.)

as an ultra-confirmed horror stan, im just going to out myself here right now and say that i do not get the appeal of audition (and actually cant get into most miike stuff). happy for people that do tho xxxxpost

that nude wrestling completely upended the movie imo

― Dan S, Friday, February 5, 2010 1:07 PM (4 minutes ago)

this scene was "borrowed"* pretty much from Jackass 2 in which guest-skit-director John Waters has Wee Man on a bed and gets a 400 pound naked woman to belly flop on him, then Waters pretends he's unhappy with the take, then on the next take (unknown to Wee Man) he substitutes the equally rotund Preston Lacy for the woman to do the same belly flop.

*Jackass 2 only came out a couple months before Borat iirc, not sure this was intentional or not.

― ┌∩┐(◕_◕)┌∩┐ (Steve Shasta), Friday, February 5, 2010 4:15 PM (35 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

did u know if u prefer jackass 2 to jackass 1 it means u r gay

didnt realize audition was 90s/on the list prob wouldve voted - bird people of china is way better tho

the nude wrestling in borat is so effective and unstoppable because it is just honest and goofy and straightforward. you've been thru a whole movie of queasy, second-guessed, discomforting laughs, and at the end it's just hey! naked guys! running around! fighting! it's like a breath of fresh air.

not a fan of remakes, but a shot-for-shot remake of audition with zooey deschanel and michael cera would be spitefully great.

borat was my #1 btw - seeing it in theaters was easily my favorite film experience of the 00s

I think Miike Takashi deliberately made the first half of Audition boring to sucker everyone into thinking it'd end normally.

Have seen and liked a few Miike things, but judged myself way too squeamish for this. (and I liked Ichi the Killer, but probably won't ever watch that again)

wondering if that will be the top horror qua horror placing