Honestly...what is to be said about Borat...it's exactly what it claims to be...and it is FUNNY!!

Rating: 7/10 (2 March 2007)

Borat is now probably cinema legend. Crude...through the roof...offensive...yep definitely...silly, yeah plenty of that, but somehow...in some sick twisted way Borat manages to be funny, possibly one of the funniest crude films I've ever seen and I'm not a big fan of comedies let alone crude comedies. It just seems to work for Borat and part of that is because I insist on believing that there was some sort of social message that the film maker was trying to make with this over the top, rendition of a newcomer to America. I think he was trying to show us exactly how foolish we looked when presented with very taboo situations like homosexuality, religion, war, violence, American way of life...and he pulled that off flawlessly which made it all the more funny. If anyone ever thought you could have crude, disgusting humor with a point...Sacha Baron Cohen actually pulls it off and I'll give him credit for that.
Sacha Baron Cohen is Borat. He completely embodies his infamous character and makes him an actual person to us. He travels to America from his own country of Kazakhstan to document American way of life and in the process discovers the love of his life in Pamela Anderson and treks across the country to find her stopping and carrying on wild interviews and situations with 'real' people and Americans. I insist that some of it had to have been set up but the reality of Cohen doing this to real people made it downright hilarious and gave Borat it's heart. In most ways Borat is disgusting, uncivilized, under educated and yet you feel compassion for him because this is his way of life and he doesn't understand what other people do. Then on the flip side anyone who knows the story behind this film knows that Cohen is tricking these people and that's really the way you see Borat. I don't think anyone who knows and understands this film actually sees Borat as a character or anyone remotely real. Ken Davitian is Borat's partner in crime and fellow Kazakhstani Azamat Bagatov who follows him as his producer through his exploits. Davitian basically uses his physical appearance as comedy for the most part and plays as Cohen's straight man but does a decent job doing that. Basically the rest of the film for the most part is 'real' unsuspecting victims of Cohen's comedy bit and parts of it seem real and then you wonder how they could be duped by such an overdone character. Pamela Anderson also makes an appearance as herself but it's generally considered fact that her scenes were planned and staged.
Weak of stomach or heart and easily offended should stay 100 miles from this film because it does have it's share of down right raunchy comedy, disgusting moments, and really harsh racism and sexual opinions. It's not that I am not offended but I look at it differently and actually found many of the scenes amusing but from a perspective of Cohen setting them up. Borat is mercifully short, less than an hour and a half because I don't believe anyone could take any more of Borat than that but the deleted scenes on the DVD are well worth seeing as well because there is even more interactions with real people. Those who like disgusting comedy will find Borat roll in the aisles funny but I think even people who can see the film as more of a spoof and trying to make a point might get a good laugh out of it as well. I would never say the film is brilliant or worth seeing twice but the film is worth seeing to get a smile out of the tough skinned individuals out there. 7/10