Kazakhstani TV personality Borat is dispatched to the United States to report on the “greatest country in the world.” With a documentary crew in tow, Borat becomes more interested in locating and marrying Pamela Anderson than on his assignment.
I loved this movie just from the trailers. It caused a bit of controversy and Fox cut its theater premiere drastically because the thought the Americans would not understand the humor or be offended. Honestly, I doubt the studios understand it because Borat is a hit and almost everyone I know found it hilarious.
Borat is done in a reality type, documentary style, very similar to that of “Jackass” but without the stunts. Normally, I’d find this bland and boring for comedy but it works here, partly because of Borat staying in character the whole time. I mean he really IS Borat for the entire film. I’ve never seen another person really do this since Andy Kaufman did Latka & Tony Clifton. It just adds to the humor.
The story / documentary revolves around Borat, a Kazakhstani TV reporter who visits America to learn how we live so that he can take the knowledge back to his country to improve their poverty and backwardness. So he comes to our country with a camera crew and he and his “producer”, I believe, are recorded on their adventures. Sounds boring? Heck no! Borat plays the part of the naive foreigner who isn’t accustomed to how Americans live and our traditions. He’s almost impossible to dislike because he just appears “slow”. Being “slow” and naive is key to the success of the humor because the people he comes in contact with let their guards down and we are privy to seeing their true thoughts and feelings, much of which isn’t very pretty in itself but which becomes funny in a satirical way because of how Borat treats it as “fact”, as if it’s how he supposed to act. It’s hilarious.
Interspersed with seeing the racism and self-centeredness of some Americans, we also see Borat’s racist and chauvinistic beliefs which he uses. What is ironic is that the Americans he meets all act like Borat’s backward in his beliefs and actions while, at the same time, they show their own snobbery, bigotry and prejudices. I’m probably going off on a tangent but I love laughing at hypocrisy.
The story changes focus about halfway through to partly concentrate on Borat’s new obsession with wanting to marry Pamela Anderson. This might’ve been funnier if Pamela Anderson was actually in the spotlight she had been in in the 1990s. It’s funny here but only half as much as intended.
Sacha Cohen is just brilliant as Borat. He manages to be funny and sarcastic yet also show us a glimpse at how contradictory the people he meets really are. He’s the star of the film but the unknowing people he meet make him shine even more. Borat does everything from sarcastic humor to physical comedy with ease. From ridiculing a group of westerners at a rodeo by singing our anthem with his country’s name, making fun of the dining etiquette of the wealthy, bashing a group of feminists, going to an evangelist meeting to be healed, to running naked through a hotel after his fat nude partner, Sacha is 100% Borat!
There isn’t much cursing that I recall nor much nudity. Most of the nudity is of Borat himself.
Overall, this is a great comedy / pseudo documentary. It might offend some who just don’t “get it” but the film doesn’t care and neither do I nor should its viewers. Borat’s not racist; he’s just showing us what really exists in our society. He does it in a hilarious way too, a double whammy, if you will. I recommend it to everyone, unless you’re a total politically correct prude!
