A fairly juvenile exercise to no real purpose

Rating: 5/10 (11 November 2006)

I almost walked out several times. Borat is not that funny. It's more an almost desperate exercise in bad taste and ridicule. That it miraculously fills up its time was a major surprise after the first ten minutes. Why the extended hotel scene with the fat guy except that Cohen apparently thought things were getting a little too lame? And when not busily trying to extricate itself from its sometimes fascinating but more often just embarrassing vignettes it's indulging itself in bad taste to the point that you too will want to walk out. Somehow, Cohen as Borat comes across as a likable and memorable guy, though he's clearly a maniac. Nothing he does with one exception will make you think he's not a personable maniac. The one scene that made me feel as if I couldn't respect the man was one having to do with Eastern European attitudes toward Jews; it's way overdone. That scene seemed quite unnecessary though you will wonder why I didn't mention others as well. Cohen has a painful sense of humor but I can't help thinking he's not going to be able to do anything but Borat from now on. Any further adventures will have to be reviewed by people who don't like this one before I pay to see another of these films. I found the reviews I read were all quite misleading. This movie is closer to guerrilla theater than comedy and is better left to a very select and jaded audience.