Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Sacha Baron Cohen brings his Kazakh journalist character Borat Sagdiyev to the big screen for the first time. Leaving his native Kazakhstan Borat travels to America to make a documentary. As he zigzags across the nation Borat meets real people in real situations with hysterical consequences. His backwards behavior generates strong reactions around him exposing prejudices and hypocrisies in American culture.System Requirements:Run Time: 86 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 024543419693 Manufacturer No: 2241969

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It takes a certain kind of comic genius to create a character who is, to quote the classic Sondheim lyric, appealing and appalling. But be forewarned: Borat is not "something for everyone." It arrives as advertised as one of the most outrageous, most offensive, and funniest films in years. Kazakhstan journalist Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen reprising the popular character from his Da Ali G Show), leaves his humble village to come to "U.S. and A" to film a documentary. After catching an episode of Baywatch in his New York hotel room, he impulsively scuttles his plans and, accompanied by his fat, hirsute producer (Hardy to his Laurel), proceeds to California to pursue the object of his obsession, Pamela Anderson. Borat is not about how he finds America; it's about how America finds him in a series of increasingly cringe-worthy scenes. Borat, with his '70s mustache, well-worn grey suit, and outrageously backwards attitudes (especially where Jews are concerned) interacts with a cross-section of the populace, catching them, a la Alan Funt on Candid Camera, in the act of being themselves. Early on, an unwitting humor coach advises Borat about various types of jokes. Borat asks if his brother's retardation is a ripe subject for comedy. The coach patiently replies, "That would not be funny in America." NOT! Borat is subversively, bracingly funny. When it comes to exploring uncharted territory of what is and is not appropriate or politically correct, Borat knows no boundaries, as when he brings a fancy dinner with the southern gentry to a halt after returning from the bathroom with a bag of his feces ("The cultural differences are vast," his hostess graciously/patronizingly offers), or turns cheers to boos at a rodeo when he calls for bloodlust against the Iraqis and mangles "The Star Spangled Banner."



Success, John F. Kennedy once said, has a thousand fathers. A paternity test on Borat might reveal traces of Bill Dana's Jose Jimenez, Andy Kaufman, Michael Moore, The Jamie Kennedy Xperiment, and Jackass. Some scenes seem to have been staged (a game Anderson, whom Borat confronts at a book signing, was reportedly in on the setup), but others, as the growing litany of lawsuits attests, were not. All too real is Borat's encounter with loutish Southern frat boys who reveal their sexism and racism, and the disturbing moment when he asks a gun store owner what gun he would recommend to "kill a Jew" (a Glock automatic is the matter-of-fact reply). Comedy is not pretty, and in Borat it can get downright ugly, as when Borat and his producer get jiggly with it during a nude fight that spills out from their hotel room into the hallway, elevator, lobby and finally, a mortgage brokers association banquet. High-five! --Donald Liebenson

On the DVD
"Global Visitings" captures Borat-mania in all its hype and glory, as Sacha Baron Cohen, never breaking character, promotes his film around the world. On the itinerary is Late Night with Conan O'Brien and the Toronto Film Festival, a now-legendary screening aborted after a projector malfunction. A mixed bag of deleted scenes finds Borat trying to bait more unsuspecting citizens, including an animal-control worker who refuses Borat a dog after he asks, "How do you recommend I cook this?" and a doctor who is nonplussed by Borat's obscene medical history. A supermarket visit offers the most maddening fromage-inspired looniness since Monty Python's "Cheese Shop" sketch. Also good for a few chuckles are a faux soundtrack commercial and a Baywatch parody ("Sexydangerwatch"). --Donald Liebenson




Beyond Borat

All things Sacha Baron Cohen

Borat Apparel

Borat Soundtrack

Stills from Borat (click for larger image)

I've seen this twice on DVD already, and had to buy it. The film is up there as a comedy classic. I laughed harder I think than when I first saw "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," or "Life of Brian." Borat is a genius. Don't miss watching all the hilarious additional material on the DVD that wasn't included in the movie theater version--I don't know why, because it's all wonderful. What's even funnier, is that these are real people with whom Borat is interacting... real people, which makes it all funnier and poignant and continuing in the comic tradition of Chaplin, and the Marx Brothers, and the Three Stooges. Only uniquely and hysterically and at the same time biting and gentle satirical Borat!

Average Rating:

Rating: - One of funniest films ever made!
I've seen this twice on DVD already, and had to buy it. The film is up there as a comedy classic. I laughed harder I think than when I first saw "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," or "Life of Brian." Borat is a genius. Don't miss watching all the hilarious additional material on the DVD that wasn't included in the movie theater version--I don't know why, because it's all wonderful. What's even funnier, is that these are real people with whom Borat is interacting... real people, which makes it all funnier and poignant and continuing in the comic tradition of Chaplin, and the Marx Brothers, and the Three Stooges. Only uniquely and hysterically and at the same time biting and gentle satirical Borat!

Rating: - How to be a comedic genius
Judging by the reactions to Borat, I would have to say that you too can be a comedic genius just by following these three simple steps:

1. Fraudulently misrepresent yourself. Claim to be making a video for the Dutch Antilles, Tannu Tuva or some obscure country no one is likely to know.
2. Insult/offend the person you're talking to. Talk at length about your wife's sex organs, break valuable objects in their store, say something contrary to their political position, like telling feminists that women are inherently stupid, and so on.
3. Videotape their reaction.

There. You are now a comedic genius.

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Rating: - Disgustingly hilarious
I'm deeply ashamed to say that I loved this thing. I was one of only a dozen people in the theater on a Thursday afternoon and I'm the only one that laughed. As a matter of fact, I fell on the floor.

The film is simultaneously disgusting, racist, vulgar and idiotic. Cohen makes fun of society [which is OK] and of people who befriended him [which isn't]. His character--although impossibly naive--is a one hundred percent revolving jerk capable of the lowest stunt. It's difficult to not arrive at the conclusion that Cohen is a self-made man, capable of incredible self-promotion.

So why did I love it? I'm not sure I really want to know. By the way, I've been to Kazahkstan and, as far as I know, there is nothing like the 'running of the Jew.'

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

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Rating: - A pale copy of the TV Show
I am a huge Ali G fan...and I loved the HBO show (5 stars out of 5). So I went to the movie expecting more of the same, and boy was I ever disappointed. The real problem to me is that too much of the movie (all of it?) was scripted. The genius of the TV show was that it was improv depending on what happened with the guests, usually with hilarious results. This movie on the other hand relies too much on scripted situations and you just get the feeling that they are trying too hard, whereas with the TV show things just flowed.

Interestingly enough I found that people who loved the film had never seen the Ali G show, and that most of the people who had seen the show were disappointed with the film...count me among them.

If you saw the film and have never seen the Ali G show, take my advice and check out both seasons and see if you don't agree with me.

H777

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Rating: - Not the best movie to watch on your first date
The movie is a mix of the clever and the obscene, which might get you engaged, disgusted, or most likely both.

The bottom line is that it is a great satirical depiction of America, and some scenes of the movie, such as the scene of conversion in the church or the one with fraternity boys on a bus, are powerful enough to deserve the status of a classic (still not sure about the one with the anthem, though). Many other scenes do not carry a particular message apart from being downright bizarre, but - what the heck - just deal with them: the movie as a whole is worth it. That is, as long as you do not dare watch it on your first date.

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