Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (imdb | buy movie tickets online)
I was hesitant to see this movie at first. Not that I don’t like Sacha Baron Cohen, I just never thought of Borat as a full length film. I’ve enjoyed Da Ali G show before, and having been inundated by YouTube Borat clips by my friend, I have also enjoyed Borat on many occasions. I still didn’t see how these comical interviews could fill out a whole flick.
How wrong I was! Upon a brief scan of metacritic and rottentomatoes, as well as a reading of the New York Times review, I was interested in seeing Borat and on saturday night, I traveled to the cineplex to travel across the country with a Kazakh.
After the brief disney-length tour with Borat, I was totally sold by Sacha Baron Cohen’s new comedy. Borat’s interviews are hilarious as always, and the pervading plotline of Borat’s attempt to travel to California in order to marry Pamela Anderson is quite entertaining as well.
Through Borat’s cultural learning, he offends all, holding back on no one. The antisemitic Borat provides a great show upon arriving to a bed and breakfast run by an old Jewish couple, and his stumble upon an evangelical group is equally hilarious. Borat has fun at a gay pride parade and hangs with some frat guys. Of course his road trip takes the route through the southern states, and there are many laughs to be had. The jokes play on Borat’s ineptitude, but at the same time act as social commentary. We aren’t always laughing at Borat, but at the responses he elicits. While many of the jokes are offensive, this isn’t to say that there isn’t potty humor in this flick - be prepared for all.
While Borat’s humor isn’t for everyone (don’t see it if you’re easily offended), the flick hits a homerun for Sacha Baron Cohen fans. Baron Cohen was the only redeeming feature of Taladega Nights, and it looks like he’s on his way to great things. If you like Da Ali G, you’ll like Borat; if you want to see a pretty intelligent yet dumb flick, check it out. It’s niiice, high five!
4 rubber fists out of 5
November 10th, 2006 at 6:18 am
I’ve been a fan of AliG for some time (hell, I even sat through the not so great movie) but after seeing some of the clips and top on the excellent reviews, I figured I’d give it a shot. However, the fact that most of the Friday shows were sold out by the Monday beforehand, I decided to skip it over the weekend. I can’t wait to see it…tomorrow!