Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)

Director: Larry Charles
Format: Theater
Starring: Sasha Baron Cohen, Pamela Anderson, Ken Davitian
Theater

If you’re unfamiliar with Sacha Baron Cohen, he’s probably best known as the writer and star of Da Ali G Show. That show, I believe, is where the character of Borat originated. Cohen plays two other characters on the show, Ali G and Brüno and the basic gist of the program consists of Cohen posing as one his various characters in order to interview certain public figures. The whole prank designs to discredit or otherwise embarrass the person being interviewed. Think of Da Ali G Show as a cross between The Daily Show and Jackass. So, if you take the television show, eliminate two of the three characters and stretch the premise for 84 minutes, you’ve got Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Borat Sagdiyev is a TV personality assigned by his government to travel to America and report back to Kazakhstan with information with which to better their country. He begins his documentary in his rural hometown, introducing his family. Then, he travels to the US with a camera crew and producer Azamat Bagatov (Ken Davitian) to try and capture some of the culture (and Pamela Anderson). Along the way, he emcees at a rodeo, gets drunk in an RV full of frat boys, attends a fancy dinner party in the South and gains custody of a bear and an ice cream truck. Oh yeah, and who could forget the all-nude wrestling match between Borat and Azamat that rages wildly through a hotel lobby?

The goofy sort of physical and low-brow comedy is not something I usually go for in a film. So, I wasn’t really interested in seeing Borat for a while. I had seen Da Ali G Show a couple of times and thought it was a bit novel and not half bad, but not amusing enough to entertain me for a feature length time span. But, sadly, I became a victim to hype. There was so much hype surrounding this movie when it was released that you couldn’t throw a rock and not hit something with Cohen’s face on it. I did get the point, of course, that the primary purpose for this movie was to illustrate how ignorant and intolerant people in this country often are. As one reviewer put it, “He gives America the rope, but they hang themselves.”

When Borat is interviewing someone and asking seemingly innocent questions, it’s clear that he is attempting to trick them into admitting something that illustrates whatever points Cohen is trying to make. And the victims consistently fall into his trap. It’s not that he’s bad at what he does, quite the contrary. But, it’s not my kind of humor at all. I am already painfully aware of the level of ignorance and bigotry apparent in several aspects American culture. Having the point hammered home is not really funny, but rather depressing and a bit frightening. When the credits rolled at the end of Borat, I was desperately wishing I could have my $5 back. I think I laughed twice during the entire movie; once when Borat introduces his sister and once when he falls out of the frat-boy RV. Neither of which was due to any clever coaxing by our Kazak reporter. Honestly, I’d rather run barefoot through a room full of thumb tacks than see this movie again.

Overall Rating: 1
Hottie Rating: 0

Alternate Viewing: Jackass (at least it has Johnny Knoxville)
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