25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A surprizing winner ! ! !, June 14, 2005
First of all, a brief disclaimer... if you're a fan of the series... you'll probably be disappointed. Gags and storyline take the place of Ali G's unique trademark... interviewing the top talking heads of our generation and getting them to say the most ridiculous things imaginable (My first dose of him was he was interviewing an expert on terrorism and managed to get him to complate how the government could prepare for terrorists crashing a train into the White House...) His victims think they're interviewing a new type of young journalist in touch with the young generation... the ongoing question being is are they playing along, or really victims of the joke. That said...
As stupid as the concept would seem, this movie is hillarious to the point of brilliance... and by hillarious I mean that even after multiple watchings its still funny. Beyond the low ANIMAL HOUSE/Howard Stern type humor (which IS funny in itself ) the film is conceptually held together by simply presenting Peter Seller's BEING THERE charactor as a wannabe b-boy - - In doing so, the film is able to have MTV Jackass type humor with a coherent story to boot... the film never ceases to be hllarious. Contrary to the misconception of some that Ali G is parodying hip hop culture, the film sets asides all doubts of who is charactor really is.... a white boy who lives with his mum, and who's entire world is an MTV music video fantasy. Cohen's parody sheds ridiculous light on the phenomena of (often) spoiled and bratty suburban white kids pretending to be black and from the hood... If you've ever wittnessed the strange phenomena of 14 year old suburban mallrats who are just about as gangsta as teflon and Lawrence Welk and unlike a real "gangsta" could easily be tamed with a good dose of ridlin and a nice slap across the face (causing their oversized boxer shorts to fall down) this film will crack you up. - - The only worse than this are the over-aged30/lives with mum breakdancing old school hip hop fan/wannabe's of which Ali G's is also "representin'" - - I wouldn't call the film better than Austin Powers or Wayne`s World, but the parody and satire are way up there... This is definitely a surprize winner !
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Ali G Needs Reality To Be Funny, January 16, 2006
`Ali G' the movie just proves how some comedies don't work well outside their normal format.
Let me first qualify myself as a huge Ali G fan. For those of you unfamiliar with Ali G, `Da Ali G Show' is a phenomenal UK reality show staring Sacha Cohen as three personalities, Borat the immigrant from Kazakhstan, Bruno the gay Austrian model, and Ali G a wigger made even funnier by his British accent.
These three absurd characters are put into the real word and interview real people like Newt Gingrich, Ralph Nader, Donald Trump, Sam Donaldson, and even the British royal family. The joke is that the show's participants aren't in on it. They think Ali G, Borat, and Bruno are serious journalists. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard.
Ali G, Borat, and Bruno also tour museums, host talk shows on serious issues, and attend events like wine tasting, fashion shows, balls, punk concerts exedra.
The sad thing about this sidesplitting reality show it that it never reached US soil. `Da Ali G Show' can only be seen in bootleg editions.
Ali G was rehashed by HBO as a `new' show and is available on DVD. These American episodes were funny but pale in comparison to the original.
Ali G the movie, `Ali G Indahouse' (which was never released in American theatres) is a poor introduction to new audiences and a disappointment to fans. The key problem being that Ali G is taken out of the real world and put into Hollywood (OK London) and surrounded by other actors playing fictional characters. So where's the comedy?
Ali G is hired by evil politicians, Charles Dance and post dramatic plastic surgery Rhona Mitra to campaign for a member of Parliament thereby sabotaging him.
A perfect example of how Ali G's comedy doesn't translate is when he gives a speech to feminists on how he's seen all their x-rated movies and supports them 100%. This is not funny. When we saw him tell the same thing to real life feminists, that was funny.
Ali G the movie does have its laughs for the first 15 minutes until the appeal of Ali G himself wares off.
I highly recommend skipping the Ali G movie and buying his HBO shows on DVD titled `Ali G: Da Complete First Seazon' and `Ali G: Da Complete Second Seazon' which is inaccurate because Ali G was on several seasons in the UK.
Also try to find bootleg versions of Ali G's UK show. Nothing compares.
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52 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Stick with the HBO series, October 29, 2004
Ali G is one of the great characters created by Sacha Baron Cohen that is the star of HBO's series, Da Ali G Show. The series on HBO is spectacular, as Cohen feeds on the Andy Kaufman style of comedy, walking the line between comedy and downright irritation. Discussing intellectual subjects with experts, Cohen plays Ali G as an ignorant and poorly spoken talk show host, always putting his guests in awkward spots of conversation. It's brilliant and hilarious to watch, I have not missed an episode yet.
That said, this movie is a travesty, and should be skipped by anyone who truly appreciates Cohen's gift. His style of comedy is best presented in a live situation with off-the-cuff comments and queries. In this movie, the humor is almost too forced, it lacks spontenaity and more often than not falls into cliched humor and tired jokes. The plot is not only weak but super predictable. I do give this two stars instead of one, as there are 3 or 4 jokes that actually did make me laugh. However, as a whole, this movie was a serious waste of time and an insult to the true genius of Cohen.
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