Evil Comedic Genius!!!!!

Rating: 10/10 (5 November 2006)

On general principle, I'm not going to give ANYTHING away about this movie. I'm not going to mention the plot or give hints on the best scenes or whatever. That's because this movie just needs to be experienced... by everyone. Talking about it with other people who have witnessed is incredibly fun, but for reasons that can't be explained. Basically, this move is going to be huge and people are going to be talking about it a lot over the next few weeks, so just do yourself a favor and see it as soon as possible, preferably in a theater that is going to sell out. Which is going to be most places this week.
Never have I laughed so hard with so many people for so long, and maybe it will never happen again. I went to see it because I'd already read several glowing reviews from respectable film critics who liked the movie for the right reasons. I'd seen Da Ali G show, and knew that Sacha Baron Cohen was a remarkably gifted improviser with the balls and skill to always stay in character, much like our generation's Andy Kaufmann. Well, with this film, Cohen has surpassed everyone. He really has. Borat mixes the most biting satire of the unique shade of dumb exhibited by today's America with ultra low-brow dick jokes and inspired physical comedy. The preliminary reports were true: it works. LIke it or not, and you will like this film, it is going to be HUGE for all the right reasons. At some point you will see this movie and nearly suffer a laughter-induced stroke, like I did (unless you take its impact seriously enough to be offended or just don't get it).
A lot of people are going to be calling SBC a genius for the rest of his life because of this film. It probably seems like I'm piling on the praise too thickly for any comedy. That's possible, but then again I don't take movies that seriously. What I'm saying about this movie is true, but the movie is still just entertainment. It just happens to be the most innovative comedy to come along in my lifetime (23 years, the last 10 sentient to art)- the best clown in the bunch. It boasts virtuoso execution of a complete idiot by a Cambridge educated comedic genius with something to say about America. Of course, by acting more hopelessly backward and bigoted than all but the most lunatic fringe of our country, Borat is able to get people to say things you wouldn't think possible. Unfortunately, I'm not surprised by the hypocritical depths or the polite but strained patience my fellow Americans routinely display throughout the film. I've met enough of a cross section of this country to have a pretty good idea of what we're dealing with here. What I am surprised at is how a Briton, using improv, can 1. Exploit the ignorance of people regarding foreign countries by convincing people easily that he speaks the truth about Kazakhstan and 2. Uses that ignorance to define a relationship where the (American) is speaking to someone who seems far dumber and more bigoted than (the American) who is then free, on some level, to identify with made up things Borat says about this supposedly backwater Central Asian country. There it is in a nutshell- people who believe this is the greatest nation on earth identifying, culturally, with ridiculous falsehoods about the country.
Of course, many reveal nothing of the sort, though they believe equally that Borat is who he says his, so those parts are still funny as hell.
So, in closing, if you like movies and young enough to be on IMDb, you have to see the greatest comedy of our generation. You just have to see it. But don't wait until the DVD comes out or the theaters start to thin out- see it while it is fresh on the scene with a room full of people laughing so hard they cannot breath.