MovieMantz Reviews: ‘Borat’ (October 31, 2006)

“Easy Rioter”

by Scott Mantz

“Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”

Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Ken Davitian
Directed by: Larry Charles

Moviegoers, take note. If you are male, female, Jewish, Christian, white, black, Hispanic, Democrat, Republican, gay or straight?well, basically, if you breathe air and are easily offended, then “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” is not for you. (And, consequently, neither is this review.)

Otherwise, get ready to laugh ’til it hurts. That’s because not only is “Borat” one the funniest movies ever made, but it’s also one of the smartest. And it’s smart in a subversive way, since Americans will be far too busy laughing at Borat’s bold, brave, outrageous hit-and-run antics to realize that they are also laughing at themselves — and in most cases, for all the wrong reasons.

And the genius behind this hysterical, jaw-dropping brilliance; Sacha Baron Cohen, who created the naïve, satirical, racist journalist from Kazakhstan for his critically acclaimed HBO series “Da Ali G Show.” Now, with the help of producer Jay Roach (who directed the “Austin Powers” films) and director Larry Charles (who produced “Seinfeld”), Cohen’s Borat gets his big screen close-up in a largely improvisational, $17 million-budgeted, guerilla-style mockumentary.

After rising through the ranks to become the second most successful television reporter in all of Kazakhstan, Borat Sagdiyev makes his first trip to the U S of A to discover what it truly means to be an American. As he zigzags around the country in a beat-up ice cream truck with his loyal producer (Ken Davitian) and a wild grizzly bear, Borat inadvertently exposes the bigotry, misogyny and hypocrisy that continues to afflict the nation well into the 21st Century.

And since he never breaks character (to the point of almost getting his butt kicked), he does so at the expense of clueless Americans, offending just about everyone in the process. But vignette after vignette, that’s what makes the film so darn funny. See Borat mingle with hostile commuters on a New York City subway. See Borat offend a group of passionate feminists. See Borat panic at a bed and breakfast that’s run by an elderly Jewish couple. See Borat infuriate audience members at a Virginia rodeo show after ruining the National Anthem.

And in the film’s most outrageous scene, see Borat get into a wrestling match with his obese producer after an argument over Pamela Anderson, whom Borat vows to marry in California after watching a rerun of “Baywatch.” What starts off as a physical fight in their hotel room soon breaks out to a crowded banquet hall, with both of them buck-naked the whole time. It’s safe to say that you will not see a funnier scene in a movie anytime in the near future.

Try and imagine “Easy Rider” by way of Michael Moore, but with a much more perverse and bizarre sense of humor, and there you have “Borat” (no surprise then that Moore is a big fan). It’s an instant comedy classic that needs to be seen more than once in an effort to get all the jokes, but it also has a lot to say in terms of how far we have to go to rid the country of bigotry. And if that type of humor easily offends you, then ?Borat? may be more for you than you realize.

VERDICT: SEE IT!