British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's controversial new comedy movie has been cut from more than half the 2,000 US cinemas it was supposed to debut in this weekend over fears film fans won't get the comic's Borat character. In the film, Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Great Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan, Cohen plays an offensive Kazakhstan TV journalist trying to get to grips with life in America. The movie has already upset politicians in Kazakhstan, who insist the comedian's character paints a terrible picture of their country, and now film distributors in the US fear cinemagoers will find the movie more offensive than funny. The film was scheduled to open in 2,000 cinemas across America on Friday, but it will now bow in only 700. Movie executives at Twentieth Century Fox pulled the plug on the wide opening after the film tested poorly. Distribution official Bruce Snyder tells the Los Angeles Times newspaper, "Our research showed it was soft in awareness." Fox bosses hope to add cinemas a week after the film opens.