Nice comedy for people who don't take themselves too seriously

Rating: 8/10 (8 September 2007)

Seeing 'Borat' a long time after its initial release, and reading about how the Kazakstan government (poor sods) initially reacted to it, the hype surrounding the film at times has seemed bigger than the film itself. Yet the movie didn't fail to entertain, and the fast forward button on my remote control wasn't used even once.
It really is a fine little comedy, using the well known one-joke formula of 'the culture clash'. In this case we have a journalist who is pretty cool by Kazakstan standards, but fairly primitive, to say the least, when let loose in the USA. In true American road-movie fashion, we follow him and his sidekick across the continent, where things, predictably, don't go as planned. Borat has his own agenda, fueled by an equal mix of lust and love.
The film's many subtle as well as outrageous jokes aside, the acting is fine. Particularly Borat's sidekick stands out, and while some of the participants obviously didn't know the true nature of the movie, at times you couldn't help wonder if they were actors too, considering the horrible or stupid things they said. Also well made are the introduction and the final parts of 'Borat', with its liberal use of Cyrillic characters and cuts from old Soviet-era propaganda films.
Given the subject material, invariably it will offend a lot of viewers, just like - say - Monty Python's 'Life of Brian' did (which literally was banned in many parts of England). Considering some of the numerous angry reactions to 'Borat', one may wonder if the offendees saw it just to get offended, or if they even saw it at all. Not everyone seriously upset with Salman Rushdie read 'The satanic Verses' either...
People who take themselves as well as their views very, very, VERY seriously, will miss this film's jokes, which is too bad. But then that is the nature of satire: Somebody will get made fun of, and the closer to the line of what is acceptable one gets, the funnier it is (and when the line is crossed, all hell breaks loose). In this case just about everyone got aimed at: The Glorious Nation of Kazakstan, it's people, Borat's neighbor, his largish wife, homophobes, anti-Semites, New Yorkers, American patriots, drunk teenagers - you-name-it. Borat is an equal opportunity hard time, and is so with a vengeance.
So please see 'Borat' not like a real documentary, but as a comedy. And if you're the least bit likely to get offended by politically incorrect humor, don't spend your hard-earned money renting 'Borat', but go for something less risky. If, however, you can accept the movie in its proper context, it'll be a nice way to spend a few hours one evening.