You'll laugh hysterically

Rating: 7/10 (18 November 2006)

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, starring Sacha Baron Cohen as the title character, is becoming one of the most talked about movies of the year. Borat, one of the three characters from Cohen's Da Ali G Show, is a completely naive and moronic character that Cohen plays with so much conviction that it's actually scary. One even wonders whether Cohen is a genius or a madman.
Borat is directed by Larry Charles, whose previous efforts were the disappointing Bob Dylan vehicle, Masked and Anonymous, and several episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. All these projects had major creative input by their respective stars, Bob Dylan, and Larry David, as does his new film.
Shot in a mockumentary-style, the film chronicles Kazakh reporter Borat and his overweight producer (Ken Davitian) in their adventures in the "U.S. and A." They are sent to create a documentary about our globalizing culture. However, Borat quickly falls in love with Pamela Anderson after seeing her on a rerun of Baywatch, and the plot ultimately turns into Borat's quest to California to marry Anderson. What's interesting is that Cohen, a Jew, is actually speaking a combination of Hebrew and Yiddish with a Polish accent in his subtitled mumblings. The film's plot is very weak. However, it's extremely doubtful that anyone in the audience would actually care, as they would be too busy laughing hysterically.
Cohen finds humor in the reactions of everyday people in response to Borat's antics and candid inquiries. Cohen seems to never stop, as the movie is basically funny the whole way through. Cohen and Charles even accomplish the unthinkable in this film by creating sympathy for such a repulsive and clueless character. Completely broke, lonely and out of gas, Borat creates a fire for himself outside a building, and one actually feels sorry for him. Though Borat appears like such a despicable character, in reality, he is far too moronic to hate.
Cohen might actually be making a statement concerning racism with this film, because beyond his tongue-in-cheek shtick, Borat unknowingly reveals what kinds of people are actually out there, the nice, along with the bigots and sexists.
Even Borat himself proclaims he hates gays and Jews, but it becomes apparent that he has never even met either until his voyage into America. The bottom line is, no matter how stupid the plot is, and how politically incorrect it may be, this movie is completely hilarious all the way through.