An absolutely brilliant comedy

Rating: 9/10 (20 April 2020)

Okay, so from now on I'm just going to refer to this movie as "Borat," because while the official, full title of the movie is hilarious, it sure is tough to type. It's even tough to copy and paste. It's just that long.
Anyway, ridiculously long title or not, this movie is absolutely hilarious. Of course, humour is almost completely subjective, so I understand that my praises of this movie won't likely convince anyone who doesn't like this movie to judge it otherwise, but that's honestly okay with me. In my personal opinion, this is one of the funniest, smartest, and most satirical comedies in cinema history. Can I really say that a comedy that's merely 13 years old, (and has yet to proven itself as a film that can stand the test of time) is one of my favourite comedies of all time? Well shoot, I guess I just did.
Before the review, I just have to mention that there are a boatload of honourable mentions for this category, as there are a number of comedies that I can sincerely claim to be amazing (at least to me- remember the subjectivity of comedy). Dr. Strangelove, The Blues Brothers, Some Like it Hot, City Lights, Life of Brian, Tropic Thunder... all comedies I love, but for me, Borat manages to triumph slightly over them all.
Borat, in case you didn't know, is a mockumentary involving the fictional reporter Borat, played brilliantly by Sacha Baron Cohen, who comes from Kazakhstan and travels to the USA in order to "learn" the cultural differences between his country and theirs. What he actually ends up doing is freaking out a bunch of Americans with his extreme and vulgar behaviour, and in the process reveals a sinister level of racism and xenophobia present in some (mainly southern) areas of the country.
Yes, the humour in this film can get extremely crude, and many of the scenes are hard to watch because of how disgusting and uncomfortable they can be. But Sacha Baron Cohen has to make these people uncomfortable as hell, as it's the awkward situations that reveal the prejudice numerous Americans seemingly have towards races and cultures they're not used to. Of course, Baron Cohen does resort to extreme stereotypes and over-the-top antics in order to get the reactions he wants from the people he comes across, but it's all done in order to support the film's strong level of satire. And it is the use of stereotypes in order to reveal a dark under-current of racism in America that makes this film memorable, and so much more than just another crude and disgusting comedy.
Although, in my opinion, the crass, revolting scenes in this film are usually very funny because of just how far Baron Cohen is willing to go in a number of unfortunately unforgettable scenes. Good luck ever forgetting the scene in which a naked Borat and an equally naked fat assistant have a prolonged fight/ chase scene through a hotel. And yeah, you see almost everything. But the scene is an example of one that goes so far over the top with its vulgar visuals that it somehow becomes manageable. Barely. It's still horrifying to watch, but it's ultimately a hilarious scene.
A lot of the film's scenes have reached near legendary status, with Borat having been definitively inserted into modern day popular culture for a while now. To detail too many other scenes would ruin many of the film's surprises- as unpleasant as some of them may be, it's still best to go into this film knowing as little as possible. That way the shock comedy will likely be more effective.
Sacha Baron Cohen is on fire in this movie, coming up with some brilliant on the spot quips and just generally expressing some amazing examples of improvisational comedy sequences. And most of the scenes look genuine too- if these sequences were indeed staged, then they were certainly staged extremely well. Borat's escape from a Bed and Breakfast is the only scene which feels almost certainly scripted. Everything else feels very real, maybe too real- but ultimately this makes the movie more effective, and definitely more memorable.
Baron Cohen's 2009 follow-up Bruno was still a pretty funny movie, but it retread a lot of ground already covered by Borat, and it felt regrettably more scripted than Borat too. And The Dictator was decent, although its comedy was a little too hit and miss for my tastes, leading to a somewhat unsatisfying film for me personally. So in my opinion, Borat is Sacha Baron Cohen's true masterpiece- a great comedy, a masterful mockumentary, and a film that expertly balances disgustingly crude humour and exceptionally smart satire.
It's a must-watch for those of us with reasonably strong stomachs and a decent tolerance to some seriously cringe-worthy comedy.