A missed opportunity

Rating: 4/10 (8 November 2006)

Borat (and Ali G) works best when interviewing unsuspecting people in order to reveal their bigotry. This was acknowledged as the reason the Ali G film didn't work and I'd heard that a return to that format was why this film was a huge success. Not entirely true - it's simply somewhere between the two. Borat travels across America, supposedly so that he can return home to Kazakhstan with his cultural learnings. This leads him through Middle America where he encounters, among others, a homophobic rodeo organiser, a feminist group, and a fanatical Christian group. If you've seen Borat before this will give you high expectations for comedic results. Unfortunately, he never goes for the jugular, leading to a lack of laughs and a feeling of disappointment when compared to his previous TV work.
But the main problem (and it's a problem which devalues the film) is the blurring of reality and fiction. Most of the supposedly genuine interviews and situations are blatantly set-up. They may have got away with more if the cameras followed them around, documentary style, but when we suddenly cut to the inside of buildings, lifts, bathrooms, a conference etc, where camera crews have clearly already been set up, it's insulting to be expected to believe that security guards / lift passengers / homeowners / Pamela Anderson didn't know what was about to happen. This means that the "real" incidents (if, indeed there actually are any)lose their impact because you can't believe their authenticity. One of the highlights comes when he dines with a group of socialites, "accidentally" insulting them. Viewed on its own this would have been hilarious, but in the context of the rest of the film you have to start to wonder if it was scripted.
There are a few mildly amusing episodes but this should have been brilliant. They bottled it.