Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen Directed by: Larry Charles
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. However, it's more of an "I can't believe that just happened" funny.
Under the guise of Borat Sagdiyev, foreign journalist filming a documentary about the great USA, Sacha Baron Cohen brings you a slice of American pie that isn't always palatable. Of course, Borat's hometown perspective isn't necessarily the portrait of virtue by American standards either.
When Borat arrives in America, he finds that most people rebuff his warm greetings (hugs, etc) with profanity, threats and even running away from him. A meeting with a feminist group – of course, that's a recipe for disaster. A driving lesson – hilarious fun. Borat sharing his support of the War on Terror with a rodeo crowd – even better. Dinner with a group of genteel people of a high social echelon – a total train wreck that ends with a threat to call the police.
It's kind of like watching one of those psychological experiments that measures how a people really react as they slip the mask of social propriety on when they know they have to and how their true selves react when they don't think (or perhaps don't care) they're being watched. Also, it's interesting to see how people get caught up in Borat's crazy enthusiasm. Seriously – how would you react if a stranger to whom you delivered a telegram said, "You mean to say that my wife – she is dead? High five!"
These humorous litmus tests of Americans in addition to Borat falling in love with Pam Anderson while watching Baywatch reruns and finding a way to stretch his travel to California to find her make for a very entertaining movie.
However, this movie is not for everyone.
If you are offended by:
- Satire
- Foreigners
- Nudity
- Bathroom humor
- Chickens being carried around in a suitcase
- Homosexuals
- Pam Anderson
- Jokes about ethnicity, religion, America or the mentally handicapped
Please take this movie out of the queue.
However, if you have ever been offended by:
- Unfriendly New Yorkers
- Snobs
- Frat boys
- Feminists
- People who have no sense of humor
- Americans
- Humanity in general
Definitely put this movie in the queue!
Written by Jennifer Venson