Borat is a bad movie *pause* NOT!

Rating: 8/10 (25 July 2007)

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan has raised controversy all over the world. Moviegoers seem to be split into two groups: the ones that loved the movie and thought it was absolutely brilliant (there are a lot of 10s and 9s in the IMDb vote history) or it was a piece of junk, full of racist and sexist jokes (1 star seems to be a pretty popular option amongst IMDb voters too).
The answer to the question who is right is simple: it's a bit of both. Yes, Borat is a movie that's full of sexism, racism, anti-Semitism and it's often really rude and disturbing. Does that make it a bad movie? Not at all! A lot of people complained about the "toilet humour" and I have to say there's quite a bit of toilet humour in the movie (literally jokes involving a toilet). On the other hand there are scenes that are nothing short of brilliant, such as the "Running of the Jew" (lighten up people, Borat AKA Sacha Baron Cohen is a Jew himself, so it isn't an attack on the Jewish society at all), the scene with the Feminists and scene near the end where he says Kazakhstan is much more civilised and less cruel - you'll have to see for yourself what his idea of more civilised is.
Truth is this movie uses stereotypes in order to show how close-minded some people are: Borat himself is a stereotype of how Western people view people from the Mid-East. Funny thing is the stereotype is totally wrong; Borat (or rather Sacha Baron Cohen) uses stereotypes to show the darker sides of the Western community. It's not an attack on our society or the Western society at all, nor is it one on the Eastern. It's a warning to show we need to lighten up and need to stop having all these images of the East as being evil  the scene with the rodeo guy telling Borat to shave his moustache because it makes him look like a terrorist is evidence of this. In short: Cohen uses stereotypes to warn us of stereotypes and the dangers they hold.
Borat is both a warning and an advise to stop taking things so literally and so seriously. Yes, Borat is a sexist and a racist (and much more) but that doesn't stop him from being so funny you need to be rehabilitated when you're done watching  you've simply laughed yourself to death.
That is, as long as you're willing to stop taking things so seriously.