No real Kazhaks here,just gutsy comedy

Rating: 10/10 (21 November 2006)

English comic-actor Sacha Baron Cohen takes one of his famous stable of characters,Kazahkstani journalist Borat Sangdiev,and sends him on a cross-country odyssey of America that is as scattered in its logic as it is wildly funny.
Kazhakstan is fictionalized to the point that I have no doubt that any real native of the country will be less-than-pleased with this portrayal. Here we have a fourth-world country of abject poverty and warped social values(for examples:evidentally,prostitution is not only tolerated but is rewarded,and the town rapist is as common as one would consider a town doctor or sheriff)where the customs include such barbaric practices as abusing animals for sport,killing gypsies and collecting their tears(to ward away AIDS,one reasoning)and their fear of Jews,as demonstrated in their "Running of the Jews" festival(similar to Spain's "Running of the Bulls"). Borat leaves his homeland behind(not to mention his angry,abusive wife,his jealous neighbor,his grown son and the large Holstein cow he lives with)to do a report for the one television station,one on that great glorious nation of the U.S.of A.
Once in America,the tour-de-force picks up as can be inferred by the ads. From his inability to get anyone in New York to warm up to his lack-of-personal space mannerisms,to his crusade to win over "The Virgin Pamela Anderson"(for whom he falls in love with while watching a new and mystical television show on his first day in NYC:"Baywatch")at a Virgina mega-store signing in Los Angeles. Along the way,he busts up everything from a bright redneck rodeo in the deep South to a gentile dinner party in Mississippi(?),finding a way to fraternize with inner-city black kids and some USC drunk-boys returning from Spring Break. All the bits are quite funny and a nervous stay at a Bed&Breakfast run by Jews that has Borat and his producer(Ken Davitan) scared enough to believe that the roaches in the room are the hosts transformed and a knock-down,drag-out fight Au naturel being uproarious as well as painful to watch simultaneously.
Director Larry Charles,mostly known for his work on TV,particularly "Seinfeld",makes this look as seamless and mockumentary as possible. A review(it was either Rolling Stone or Entertainment Weekly)described this as(and I'm paraphrasing)a socio-political version of "Jackass" and that may be the most accurate way I could encapsulate it. Cohen's seemingly innocent yet crass foreigner is as able to draw out the awkward,unplanned funniness out of mostly innocent folks(a dumbstruck drivers'Ed instructor,a "gypsy"woman holding a garage sale)and skewer those who are far,far from innocent(a sleazy car dealer;a racist,pig-headed rodeo exec;the drunken frat-boys mentioned earlier). I'm not sure there's a clear reasoning or moral to this show,but I do get the feeling that the filmmakers were only hoping to give you a broad idea of how bigotry and ignorance is as much domain of the U.S. as it is any backward,poverty-stricken,culturally backwater country. Otherwise,this is mostly a comedy of cultural disconnect. Cohen(a quiet,educated Jewish gentleman,BTW) is excellent here,as his commitment to character is brilliant.
I won't recommend this movie to just anyone.Those who have a wicked,dangerous sense of humor with brains,though,I would highly steer towards this.