WATERLOO -- If box office receipts are any barometer, America loves Borat.

In two weeks, with only one of those in wide release, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," has raked in $67 million in theaters, and finished first at the box office last week.

High five!

But not everyone is eager to give some skin to Borat Sagdiyev, the Kazakh alter-ego of British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Just ask the frat boys from a South Carolina university who made a drunken appearance in the movie. They're now suing 20th Century Fox and several of the production companies that made the movie. Or ask the Kazakhstan government, which took out a four-page advertising section in a September edition of the New York Times in a public relations campaign; or the New Yorker who clocked Cohen in the face this week when Cohen approached him as Borat.

University of Northern Iowa senior Aaron Ryan said he doesn't plan on watching the movie because he's seen Cohen's comedy on HBO's "Da Ali G Show."

"I don't really like him," he said. "I don't like his attitude -- he makes fun of people," he said.

Stephen Winzenburg, associate professor of communication at Grand View College in Des Moines, said judging from his students' reaction to the movie, "Borat" may have fallen victim to its hype.

"We actually had a student give it a zero out of five stars on a weekly radio show. He said it was repetitive nonsense," he said. "Part of the problem is that when you hype it up that much, it's very hard to meet that expectation. So students come out and say, that isn't such a big of a deal."

Winzenburg said many of his students have already seen more extreme stunts on shows like MTV's "Jackass," so they are less likely to be impressed with "Borat" than older viewers who haven't been exposed to that style comedy.

While some hated "Borat" on a "Jackass" level, some enjoyed it for those same antics. Walking out of College Square Theater this week, Aaron King said the most memorable part of the film was the agonizingly long nude wrestling match between Cohen and his sidekick, Azamat Bagatov, played by Ken Davitian.

Those who have praised the film said those who criticize it for its buffoonery and gross-out humor are missing the point of the movie.

In the movie, Borat, a mysoginistic, anti-Semitic boor, cajoles unsuspecting Americans into revealing their deep-seeded racist and discriminatory attitudes. Some critics have hailed Cohen's comedy as one of the best of all time; the Boston Globe called it "scathingly funny," and the New York Times declared, "Satire is not pretty."

Scott Cawelti, who teaches film at University of Northern Iowa and is a Courier columnist, said the movie's popularity, in part, stems from an over-saturation of political correctness.

He said Cohen's ability to satirize Americans' short-comings communicates the attitudes people know exist but are rarely publicly stated.

"We don't all really believe we're created equal, and we think some people deserve terrible things," Cawelti said. "For some people, the Holocaust was a good start, and here is this guy who is articulating it and making us see us for the fools we are. And that's what good humor is."

However, he's not surprised that some have reacted strongly against the movie. He recalled Irish poet Jonathan Swifts' satire, "A Modest Proposal," in which Swift proposes to solve Ireland's social ills by eating babies. If you're not in on the joke, you'll be horrified, Cawelti said.

Like Swift, Cohen is in on the joke. Although anti-Semitism is a recurring theme in "Borat," Cohen himself is Jewish.

"I think satire can be very funny, but it's a two-edged -- people either love it or hate it," Cawelti said.

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Contact Jens Manuel Krogstad at (319) 291-1580 or jens.krogstad@wcfcourier.com.