I found it offensive and hilarious; no-one enjoys being the butt of slapstick, but I don't think any of it should be taken that seriously. It also show fat, hairy naked men having temper tantrums in a very bad light, and extols the virtues of prostitutes and makes Christian revivalist Pentecostals look silly. There's very little it doesn't make fun of, from Kazakhistan to Los Angeles. I laughed my ass off, deciding I would take it seriously some other time. I think, on reflection, it was the right choice. I felt the same way about Charlie Chaplin's send-up of Hitler.

A number of people are p.o.'d because he was not up front with them about what he was doing and thus took advantage of them, including the anchor newsperson who reportedly lost her job, and the rowdy frat boys described in Kat's post. I think there was something dodgy about that business model, indeed, and we'll see how it comes out in court. But that does not take away from the hilarity of the resulting film.

A