This is a fantastic, remarkable, hysterical, vulgar, shocking, enlightening, obscene, smart, crazy, and courageous film. It's a delight to find a comedy with the ambition to be all these things. Directed by Larry Charles and acted by Sacha Baron Cohen (one of the only real actors) it is the apex and perfection of all hidden camera shows and the reality-TV genre. It is the best I have ever seen, it may be the best that ever will be. Who knows if the now famous Cohen will ever be able to fool anyone again. (see Michael Moore.)
The best thing about this movie, is that although Borat himself is outrageous and most positively funny, the best parts in the movie are times when the unsuspecting objects of Borat's satire up the ante of ridiculousness themselves. The hardness of the people of New York, Alan Keyes, a midwestern rodeo cowboy, fraternity brothers, a pentecostal revival, and of course poor Pamela Anderson. (My only object of pity out of all unsuspecting bystanders, even though her part was definitely hilarious also.) Borat may be vulgar, and obscene but he meets his match in America where he finds equal crazies, who are real people!
This movie was nominated for an Adapted Screenplay oscar (Lost to The Departed). When I heard of that, and hadn't seen the movie I thought it was positively weird because most of it was improvised. But I was wrong. The structure of this movie, although it is reality TV, is unmistakable and in many ways incredibly impressive. It has been planned out thouroughly, and when Cohen and Charles needed a lucky break (Who knew that those fraternity brothers would pick them up) they got really really lucky and made superior lemonade out of really good lemons.
Cohen's performance is the best comedic performance of 2006 and he has created a charachter that is certainly more timeless.
I had the Kazakstani national anthem stuck in my head all week: Kazahkstan is the greatest country in the world. All other countries are run by little girls
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