We don’t know Kazakhstanis from Martians, but something tells us they’re not the backwater, Jew-loathing whoremongers that writer-producer-star Sacha Baron Cohen makes them out to be. Borat is a mock documentary in which the titular hero, a Kazakhstani television personality, comes to the U.S. on a cross-cultural mission and winds up crossing the Southern states to get to California—and Pamela Anderson, whom he wishes to marry. Despite some funny moments—including a grotesque, buck-naked wrestling match between Borat and his overweight manager—Borat’s broad humor often collides with downright insulting material. Filling his movie with real-life footage of Southern bigots as well as obviously staged moments (a book signing and attempted abduction of Pamela Anderson, a ride in an RV full of idiotic frat boys), Cohen and his fellow screenwriters ask you to laugh with (and at) a creature devoid of redeeming virtues. Ultimately, Cohen isn’t merely shooting fish in a barrel—he’s throwing in a stick of dynamite.
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