Pamela Anderson Movie:

		List Price: $19.98		Label: 20th Century Fox Salesrank: 2414 Released: March 6, 2007
		Our Price: $4.00
		Used Price: $1.02
		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.System Requirements:Run Time: 86 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 024543419693 Manufacturer No: 2241969

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:
The "AIRPLANE" of the 2000s .
2008-07-05 - If I were Jewish or a conservitive Christian this movie most probably would had offended me . My sense of humer always has been a little on the dark side . This movie had me laughing from beggining to end . It was so outragious, that it was cerebral . I had to watch it 5 days in a roe . All I can say, was I thought it was a very very funny flick . Then again, that's just me .

not as funny as I was told
2008-06-18 - OK: expected it to be hysterically funny
(???). didn't finish it-gave it away. crass. disappointed

I disagree that it's too vulgar
2008-05-28 - I like the premise. A lot. Plus Borat has a presence to him, and his mangled grammar strongly reflects what I've encountered in my 9 years in Asia.

Like my title says, I don't think it's too vulgar. I'm not easily offended. Rather, I found its humor too predictable. It set up these great situations and then got a little lazy in writing its way through them. It's an independent film which, unlike Hollywood pablum, doesn't insult the viewer's intelligence. But in the end I just didn't laugh much.

This is much better than anything out of the Crocodile Dundee franchise, just to pick one example of "foreigner in U S of the A" comedies of the "fish out of water" variety. But I quit after 30 or 40 minutes because it was just somehow missing something. I can't quite say what. Deep thought? Follow-through? A supporting cast that should've remained unemployees wannabes flipping burgers? I have no cultural learnings to make benefit for you here.

I really don't believe this is a two-star movie, by the way. It is too glorious for that. I really wanted to give it 2.5, but that's not an option here. Then I saw it was averaging 3.5, which strikes me as a bit high, so I was cruel just to bring that average down. Go ahead and shoot me.


A brief comment
2008-05-26 - With dialog like "When you go to America, don't do too much raping--only women," and "You mean the guy who put his rubber fist up my anus last night was a homosexual?" you know you're not watching Leave it to Beaver or even All in the Family. Borat is basically an outrageously funny and obscene take on the idea of the uncultured barbarian who goes to the "big city" to see how the other half lives, and has various outlandish adventures along the way. From the 5000 year old Sumerian story, The Epic of Gilgamesh to Midnight Cowboy and hundreds of other stories and films, this idea has provided an inexhaustible gold mine of funny and outrageous material for storytellers for thousands of years. This movie is no different; it's just far more risque, outrageous, and possibly tasteless, but loses none of its comic potential for that. Cohen and his partner (can't recall his name) are both superb in their roles and the whole cast really looks like they're having a good time with this outlandish and uproarious farce that constantly looks like it's going to spin out of control. Even the most jaded movie fan should find something funny or just different in Borat.

Great Movie!
2008-05-18 - All they have to do now, is send a redneck to another country, and see the review......