If you like-a this movie film, you get a high five!

Rating: 8/10 (22 September 2012)

It's-a very nice. Performer Sacha Baron Cohen keeps character comedy alive with this ingratiating, sometimes utterly outrageous film that does do more than just deliver belly laughs, as it takes its title character - a clueless, well intentioned TV personality from Kazakhstan who travels to the U.S. and A. to study its cultures so that the great and glorious nation of Kazakhstan may learn a thing or two. It exposes a variety of prejudices as lovable Borat interacts with a great many average Americans, finding that things aren't so ideal in his host country. Cohen is absolutely incredible as he stays in character no matter what the situation is, and priceless as he displays his ignorance of so many aspects of American culture. Among his travels, which do take on an episodic nature, he learns about American humour (NOT!), antagonizes the audience at a rodeo as he does his own version of the national anthem, makes friends with a prostitute (Luenell), and spars with his curmudgeonly, corpulent producer Azamat (Ken Davitian). Granted, Cohen does go to some pretty crazy lengths to get laughs, especially when he and Davitian have their climactic physical altercation. Still, he does generate some honest guffaws, which is more than can be said for some comedies. The best moments come when Borat is meeting with the assorted American citizens, and their reactions as they try to decide what to make of him are priceless. Part of the plot revolves Borat becoming infatuated with actress Pamela Anderson and travelling across country, from NYC to LA, with the intention of making her his wife, and this adds to the wacky appeal. One of the most refreshing elements to "Borat" is its dispensing with anything resembling political correctness; too bad more mainstream comedies don't have this level of brevity. Cohen is a lot of fun (it's hard not to crack up simply seeing his face on the DVD cover), and Davitian makes for a great comic foil. While his brand of humour may not be for everybody, some viewers are sure to appreciate his dedication to his craft and love his go-for-broke, anything-goes attitude. The action moves along very well, and the film wraps up in record time, coming in at a very reasonable 84 minutes. It gets off to a great start, and remains amusing right to its appealing wrap-up. Eight out of 10.