Entertaining, but 'could do better'

Rating: 7/10 (10 January 2007)

I've been familiar with the Borat character from Cohen's Ali G shows in the UK, so knew what to expect. He's at his very best with unsuspecting members of authority, from small gun clubs through to government figures, where he can cajole them into saying things they'd rather not, or certainly wouldn't say on national TV. There are some Borat clips available from his time in the US which were not included in the film and I wondered why, because some of these were much funnier than what was included. However, the confrontations with the unsuspecting were still good and worth watching. Maybe not enough of them for me.
There are pieces which are obviously set up, and this is where it falls flat because you know the 'unsuspecting' are actually in on it. OK, it needs a rolling story, and the hotel naked fight with his adviser was funny/ridiculous and parts of this made me wonder why on earth he'd put his naked frame up against the anger of a big hotel security guard who may not have had the opportunity to bash someone in a while. He does suffer for his art in places here.
In one of early encounters with a genuine 'unsuspector' it's funny that he gets the guy to state that he wants homosexuals hanged! This is the art of making ordinary people be free with their outrageous prejudices, and his TV show was centered completely around this. Here, we don't get enough.
Overall, there are some laughs, certainly a lot of laughs if you love him to bits, or have never seen him. I for one, am glad to see such non-PC outrage back on the screen, and it would only be a fool to take him seriously.