Your mouth will be moving a lot while watching this: whether it be by laughing or dropping your jaw so much

Rating: 9/10 (24 March 2007)

Like a jolt of electricity into the world of cinema, Borat awakened the industry by delivering a shock treatment that can be capable of waking patients in lifelong comas. Controversy, bewilderment, amazement and eventually lawsuits surrounded this movie from the moment the trailer first aired, as a relatively unknown British comedian impacted the American life in a way not seen coming. Dressed as one of his alter-egos in his hit British show, Sacha Baron Cohen would practically fool almost all of America with his wild and crazy antics without ever breaking out of character. Inside the rather short 84 minutes of this picture lies some of the craziest scenes in recent memory, including one of the funniest and raunchiest fights you'll ever see in your life. As long as you can deal with its heavy shock humor, then you'll find Borat to be one of the funniest films in over a decade. But, if you are easily offended, or if you can only take so much sexual content, this must be skipped. And, if you are a Jewwell...let's just hope you have a sense of humor.
In Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, we follow a homophobic, sexist, racist, unintelligent, cheerful, and social citizen of a country full of problems (economic, social, Jew). To fight these problems, he is being sent to the United States to figure out how to better improve the country. Relying on very little script and much more on improvisation and what fooled Americans say, Borat is a tough movie to make. It is not easy at all to be able to find enough material without giving away the joke or exposing the joke. Nonetheless, thanks to sharp acting and improvising by Cohen and his assistant Ken Davitian, and also thanks to a series of very successful interactions with Americans, we have ourselves an amazingly hilarious film that isn't afraid to push any buttons. Directed loosely by Larry Charles and produced by Jay Roach, every aspect of Borat is silly and humorous; from the soundtrack to the one-liners to the reactions of Americans, leading straight up to the ending.
Sacha Baron Cohen runs the show, steals the show, and prevents it from ever getting stale. With a heavy accent, a willingness to embarrass himself, and unafraid of anything, Cohen is everything Jamie Kennedy, Ashton Kutcher, and other pranksters wishes they could be. He comes off as so convincing; that it seems like nobody that interacted with him could tell that there was even a hint of potential that he was acting. Cohen doesn't lose any touch with his character for even a second; he probably stayed with those same clothes even after filming was done for the day. His acting deserves awards, maybe even an Oscar if the material wasn't such a hot button issue. But, we shouldn't take anything away from his assistant, Davitian, who can be just as funny. Both of them share some sort of comic chemistry that can be compared to the likes of the Frat Pack, specifically Owen Wilson and Vince Vaghan.
While the movie is funny, it is not for everybody. Unlike the great comedies past and present that jumble up multiple ways to get a laugh, Borat is strictly shock humor, with a tiny hint of physical humor and satire. The quantity of shock humor is very heavy, comes is massive doses, and just might be too much for some viewers. Like previously stated, the only punches this film pulls is on time, as it clocks in at less than 90 minutes. This is more like Napoleon Dynamite, you are whether going to love it or hate it. Unlike Napoleon Dynamite though, Borat actually makes an effort (and actually has decent substance--and actually has effort in terms of camera-work).
Bottom Line: If you can take it, watch this movie. Well-directed, well-acted, and just jaw dropping in multiple instances, Borat doesn't hold back and throws shocker after shocker until the movie is over. The film never runs out of material, never drags, and just never loses its edge. Perhaps the only thing it is missing is more scenes of the grief-stricken country Kazakhstan and its citizens, since they were all fun to watch in the beginning and in the end. Cohen fools half of America with his antics, and we receive nothing but pure enjoyment because of it. Highly recommend. It is not one of the greatest comedies of all-time, but does deserve the honor of being among the funniest movies this decade. Watch it, because remember, if this film not success, Borat will be executed.