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intereact!Director: Larry Charles
Actors: Sacha Baron Cohen, Ken Davitian, Luenell, Alan Keyes, and Spirea Ciorobea
Rated: R (Restricted)
Retail Price (not our price): $19.98
Release Date: 2007-03-06
Theatrical Release Date: 2006-11-03
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Run Time: 84 minutes
Format: Array
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Discs: 1
Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
1) Amazon.com
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 LiebensonOn 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 LiebensonBeyond Borat All things Sacha Baron CohenBorat ApparelBorat SoundtrackStills from Borat (click for larger image)2) 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.
Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5
1) I am too old to enjoy this film [Rating: 2 out of 5]
When I told the cashier that I'd like two tickets to Borat, he told me that if I could name the other two characters that Sacha Baron Cohen plays, my girlfriend and I could attend the film for free. I easily named Bruno and struggled to name the obvious, Ali G, and I got my free tickets. Let me begin by saying that I "get" this film. Cohen's anthropological project is not lost on me. I understand that Borat is a deconstructive mirror of American culture, but I do not understand how this is a new and funny idea. It's been done before in everything from Henry James' novel The American to Eddie Murphy's film "Coming to America." But I could forgive the unoriginality of the film if it could make me laugh. Sadly, the laughs were few. I spent most of my time wondering how the film was produced. It would have been better if there wasn't an attempt at an enduring plot, but rather an episodic plotting of American ignorance. And where the film could have delivered funny commentary (say, a consistent kind of reporting back to Kazakhstan about how Americans do this or that), it instead went for Jackass-style embarrassment of real people. Since this kind of "humor" clogs all contemporary media, I feel desensitized and therefore disinterested in it. But really, I shouldn't be reviewing this film. I'm not of the intended audience. It was made for those who had a political awakening at a younger age than me. What seems boring and immature to me might actually tickle the funny bone of my younger siblings and my students. That's what getting old does to you. It separates you from the younger generation. The decision is to either embrace or reject this inevitability. Perhaps some people will think I'm "looking too deeply" into this movie and expecting too much of it. If that's true, let's not pretend that this is the greatest comedy ever. In the end, I didn't get much out of this film. What I did learn is that I have finally started getting old. I'm glad that I can go to a movie like Borat and be unable to enjoy its mediocrity. Most importantly, I'm glad that I didn't waste $17 on tickets.2) Stupid [Rating: 2 out of 5]
I have seen my share of dumb, stupid, pointless obsene comedies, but this one certainly tops that list, or close to it. I found absolutely nothing funny about this film. Was it original, yea, sure, but that doesn't make it good. I mean, it was barely watchable. I applaud Sasha for attempting to play a role like this, and for staying in character, but really, this is a pretty awful movie. And worst of all is, I bet there are quite a few ignorant people out there that would think that how they portray Kazakstan in the film, is how it really is, which I must say, it is certainly not. I know how to take a joke every now and then, when it truly is funny, but this is a complete waste of time. Yes, it is interesting to note that there are quite a few clueless and dumb people in this country who would do or say anything if they got a chance to be in a 'movie' but it really isn't surprising. And then you get the people threatening to sue just cause they didn't think it would be seen here in America. Give me a break.3) great movie that exposes the not-so-nice-parts-of-the-USA [Rating: 5 out of 5]
This is a great movie that exposes some parts of the USA that some people don't want or refuse to see: racism, homophobia, religious right, etc. Excellent, very well done!!!!4) Cohen shows his cajones [Rating: 5 out of 5]
The free-running sequence in Casino Royale may be breathtaking, but it doesn't quite manage to provide the best fight scene of 2006 - that honor goes to the notorious one in Borat which, like Casino Royale, also involves testicles in an example of dedication by an actor that makes Christian Bale's weight loss in The Machinist look like phoning it in. You have to admire Cohen's cajones (which are on view in more ways than one) as he goes above and beyond the call of duty in his determination to stay in character no matter how hostile the environment he's helped to create. It's pretty easy to spot the faked or partialy faked sequences - the friendly Jewish couple who rent them a room, the children at the ice cream truck, the Pamela Anderson finale - and most of the victims that aren't faked are more than deserving of their fate (the racist rodeo impresario, the frat boys) or handle themselves well (the feminists). Even the villagers currently suing can't really have much of a case: the moment an extra agrees to put a d***o on as a prosthetic arm, it's pretty obvious they're not participating in a documentary. (Hell, they're not even real Kazaks, so it's not as if they're playing themselves!) And yes, it is very funny even if, like most comedies, it does run out of steam in the `serious' last act. Although there's been some criticism of the exras on the DVD, it's a decent enough package.5) Put Borat out of it's misery! [Rating: 1 out of 5]
If you gave a group of boys, aged 10 - 12, a couple of million dollars and the freedom to make any film they wanted, Borat would be it! I'm not a prude. I grew up with the off-color humor of Redd Foxx and Belle Barth. They were FUNNY! Borat is simply sophomoric, crude, and rude, pretending to be satire. View this dog at your own peril!