Success. Yes. It Nice.

Rating: 7/10 (7 November 2006)

Those who have called "Borat" a "Jackass" with a higher IQ pretty much have hit the nail on the head. This is low-brow humor for the high-brow set with enough offensive posturing and crudeness to appeal to a broad audience. Those claiming it's one of the funniest movies ever made and a brilliant satire are grotesquely overstating the appeal of Sascha Baron Cohen's creation. On many levels, as a mockumentary, it succeeds in making people laugh out loud (especially in the opening moments in his hometown), but to call this satire is an insult to pure satires like "Dr. Strangelove" and "Network."
The extended nude wrestling/chase scene in the hotel that people have hailed as a film classic was far from it in my mind. The funniest bits I found were instead the not so obvious subtexts (like the fact he spoke Hebrew in many of the Jew bashing scenes) and throw away moments like when he threw down his bag in despair and the chicken was still inside. Still, a subversively clever movie that seemingly exists to only push the envelope certainly has its place in this increasingly sensitive, politically correct, and censored society, which is why I feel this has become a cultural phenomenon. For Cohen and his alter ego, success, yes, it nice. Very nice. We like.