Crude and gross but with some telling satire

Rating: 7/10 (16 April 2007)

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon.)
Although superficially this mockumentary would seem to be a satire of the people of Kazakhstan or the citizens of any country thereabouts, it is really a satire of America the beautiful. Surprise! It makes some good points and there are some laughs. Mostly though I think the average viewer would be grossed out about half the time. But that's okay. For the average movie-goer or DVD watcher, getting grossed out is a lot better than being bored.
Of course you might be bored too. Personally I don't think I could watch the naked mock fight between Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Azamat Bagatov (Ken Davitan) again. I wasn't so much grossed out as made to feel that really I ought to find better ways to waste my time.
Yes, we're bored in America. Our neurons are sated with violence, pornography, and crude, boorish behavior toward our fellows (both real and on TV and in the movies). Which is why, to be successful, people like Sacha Baron Cohen have to turn up the crude volume to get the old laugh-o-meter activated. A glimpse of stocking used to be looked on as something shocking, now, heaven knows, anything goes.
But should we care? Yes, your preteen sons are going to find out who in the neighborhood has this DVD and they're going to watch it. Will they be scarred for life? Will they "get it"? Will it make them uncouth? Will they watch it more than half a dozen times? One of the interesting things about this movie is the publicity it got and the controversy it engendered. Kazakhstan initially was greatly offended and protested loudly at this misrepresentation of its people. But then they thought it over and realized that maybe this isn't necessarily such a bad thing. In Hollywood any publicity is good. They probably figured out that what is being made fun of is the average American's provincial attitude toward foreigners. Cohen goes a long way toward proving that with the scene at the rodeo, for example, where his line, "We support your war of terror!" gets a nice round of applause. And the guy who thinks that somebody with a moustache looks like a Muslim who looks like a terrorist adds a little to the impression that Americans, when they think about foreigners, think superficially.
Actually, they don't do any real thinking. Xenophobia reigns supreme in the heartland--but that would be the heartland of any country. The frequent anti-Semitic shtick throughout was originally aimed at Europeans, I understand, who despite the embarrassment of the Holocaust are apparently as anti-Semitic as ever. But Cohen, who is Jewish, makes fun of the antisemitism of Muslims as well as Westerners. And he makes fun of the uneducated and uncouth as well as the superficially sophisticated--witness the scene at the Magnolia Fine Dining Society.
Some people sued or threatened to sue. Some guys from the University of South Carolina who were caught off guard and drunk, mouthed some stupidities for all of the world to hear. They sued but lost the case, I understand.
Larry Charles of TV's Seinfeld fame directed. He achieved some tension with the simple plot of Borat coming to American and making a road trip across the land to California to meet and hopefully mate with Pamela Anderson. That was pretty funny. I understand that some of the scenes were staged and scripted, for example the book signing scene with Miss Anderson was at least partly staged. But other scenes were play-as-you-go with Cohen just making up stuff and saying provocative things to get reactions from the innocents. The scene in the bathroom with the woman from the Magnolia Fine Dining Society was pretty funny as she explains to Borat so seriously and so sincerely how to wipe himself.
Bottom line here is, should you bother to watch? My answer: maybe if you can stand the crudities, and maybe if you don't squirm at satire directed at Americans. On the other hand, this is not in my opinion in the same league as some other famous comedic movies. Certainly it is not nearly as good as Blazing Saddles (1974), which I was watching the other night. Finally, the techniques used by Cohen and Charles are interesting in their own right because of the reaction of people who were taken in, or somewhat taken in, and so that they ended up saying some outrageous and embarrassing things.