A bit more bite?

Rating: 7/10 (15 November 2006)

The problem with "Borat" is, while it's certainly very funny, it's never terribly original nor is it as dangerous as it could be or thinks it is. The usual targets are on hand, (gays, blacks, any minority really, people with disabilities, mental and physical and so on). Some of these gags hit their targets while others completely backfire. The anti-women jokes seem to me a bit close to desperation and perhaps the only real surprise is Cohan's blatant lampooning of the Jews which is about as daring as the film gets. Posing as a rabid anti-Semite Cohan, in his persona of Borat, actually manages to blow apart the whole notion of anti-Semitism and the film's best 'sketch' is where Borat and his producer find themselves staying at a guest-house run by a sweet old Jewish couple. For the rest it's mostly toilet humour, in every conceivable sense, (Borat seems very obsessed with his 'anoos'), and jokes about masturbation. The first time Borat does a gag it is genuinely funny, the second time, less funny, the third time ... well, you get the idea, and the improvised 'candid-camera' style sketches work far better than the staged ones.
As an actor Cohan is genuinely creative and Borat can be a wonderful comic creation but the material here never really finds him at his best. It may have seemed like a good idea to go to America and lampoon the Republicans, (and it's these scenes, set mostly in the American heartlands, that really hit the mark), but Cohan doesn't seem to be able to sustain these jokes. Just when he might be getting close to the jugular he pulls back and goes after some other easier option instead. The one time he does sustain the gag is when he cross-cuts between an organized dinner party and an etiquette lesson. For a while this is a really funny scene, (even the toilet humour in the scene is funny), but Cohan doesn't know to end it so he brings on a black hooker. Funny? NOT! (And we don't want to see Borat's sentimental side either).
Perhaps not surprisingly the film has become a big hit in America, (its frat-boy humour will certainly appeal to a younger audience). But if Cohan really had the courage of his convictions he would have given us something like "The Aristocrats", which really was in bad taste, and risked alienating just about everybody. Fans of his British television series "Ali G" knows he can do it. Perhaps next time?