Pamela Anderson Movie:

		List Price: $14.98		Label: 20th Century Fox Salesrank: 1567 Released: March 6, 2007
		Our Price: $3.00
		Used Price: $0.75
		MPAA Rating: R (Restricted) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
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.

Description of Borat - Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Widescreen Edition):

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

Beyond Borat

All things Sacha Baron Cohen

Borat Apparel

Borat Soundtrack

Stills from Borat (click for larger image)

Borat - Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Widescreen Edition) Reviews:
VILE, DISGUSTING, RACIST, BIGOTED GARBAGE. NOTHING FUNNY HERE. COHEN, A RAT,ADS MORE HATE(HIS)TO ALREADY TOO HATEFUL WORLD. SAD.
2009-10-08 - ALERT! Do not be fooled by this deceptive bigotry through comedy? as is common these days. This garbage is a prime example of personal hate, COHEN'S disguised as comedy. A hate film for people who love to hate, como, like Cohen.

Our bookclub got this and thought it would be funny. Without doubts, the most vile and disgusting piece of garbage we subjected ourselves too. It is disgusting enough in and of itself, and has made Cohen a very rich man, at the expense of endless and cruel exploitation of less educated and poor people as perceived from Cohen's own mind and prejudices he learned in his home. The bigotry and racism are so insensitive and cruel that we didn't finish it and actually returned it and obtained a refund.

The images make us sick to our stomachs to this day. This from a bunch of senoir and senior, senoir citizens.

There is enough hate in this world, without Cohen adding so much more by his owm personal hatreds in this horrid movie.



Genius
2009-08-27 - I love this movie, no way around it. The humor is very racy and offends many but it's all part of the character. Some of the stuff that he says or implies are necessary for the film to work. I would recommend this movie to anyone who does not offend easily with perhaps a little bit of a wacky sense of humor.

I love this movie
2009-08-14 - Funniest movie ever, I've seen it over and over and finally bought it so I can watch it even more!

Worst ever film
2009-07-02 - I don't think Sasha Baruch Cohen understands what comedy is. Grabbing somebody's crotch in public will elicit laughs, too. Of relief, perhaps, that Cohen didn't do this to you. Yet, that's Cohen's idea of comedy. It is precisely what he does in his "acts". It is so revolting, that one wonders why anyone would watch 2 hours of outhouse humour that was obviously addressed to the sad and dumb, probably abused, idiots who laughed at this crud. Cohen reached for the below lowest common denominator to get his guffaws. Granted I didn't see the entire effort. I left after 25mins. From the comments of people whose opinion I trust and value, I was right to extricate myself from this toxic abuse. This is the only instance where no amount of curiosity would tempt me to see it to the end. Aye, I've never walked out of a movie before. Or since.

Worst ever? you ask. Indeed, yes. I've seen more than my share of bad and boring pictures, made and/or written by talentless wannabees. But this execrable effort was a deliberate effort to make racism, misogyny, homophobia, etc., look funny to the misanthropes everywhere.

Cohen's hateful display of lack of talent may be his vengeful response for his failures in other media. After all, HBO can, will and does show anything only just on this side of pornography, yet the majority of HBO subscribers saw through Cohen's racism and false pretenses and brought and end to this affront to comedy and comedians everywhere. Even the least talented among them.

Too bad Amazon's lowest rating is still one star. "Borat" and Cohen are 2 absolute zeros.

Cruel humour
2009-07-01 - I don't mind jokes that are non-PC, but Borat isn't funny. It's simply full of cruel humour. The set-ups involve people who believe him to be genuinely from Khazakstan and they treat him with kindness and help him. In return he plays cruel tricks on them, including the fact he's a British actor (Sacha Baron Cohen) pretending to be in need of their help.

According to Wiki the village (actually in Rumania) that is supposed to be his home village was badly treated "The villagers were paid the equivalent of four U.S. dollars a day each for their appearances and were told the film would be a documentary about the hardships of village life...In the film, some of the villagers are depicted as rapists, abortionists, and prostitutes for Baron's comedy movie"

These are generally ordinary people. They are an easy target. They are often not public figures - though he does appear on a 'local-tv' news. For the most part these are people who, in genuinely treating him well should be beyond parody. At least as Ali G Sacha Baron Cohen interviewed celebrities and public figures.