Borat

Borat is one of the funniest films I have seen recently. It has its dry spots, sure, but with a short running time and a very high ratio of jokes that work to those that don't, it manages to keep us laughing - and laughing hard - from start to finish.

The film follows Borat, a TV personality from Kazakhstan, who goes to America to make a documentary about what makes the country great. But once he glimpses Pamela Anderson on Baywatch, he wants to marry her and heads to LA. The lead character Borat is funny without seeming to try too hard. There are no build-ups that make us expect something funny nor are there pauses or breaks that signify a punchline where we are expected to laugh. He simply keeps talking and his sincerity and obliviousness to the reactions/responses to his talking is what makes him so funny.

Borat does the familiar 'fish out of water' routine but with a small difference. The 'fish' usually knows that it is in new territory, feels uncomfortable and tries to fit in to the new surroundings. Not so with Borat here. He is perfectly comfortable with his own thoughts and actions in the new place and it is the people around him who become uncomfortable. So the biggest laughs are in sequences where he meets people who are the complete opposite of him. Borat's meeting with the feminists and his dinner with the high-society types are just brilliant segments that mix both satire and humor.

Borat starts off making fun of his own country. His comments about its people and his actions paint a picture of a country and culture so outdated and backward that it is howlingly funny. But once he lands in America, we're never sure whether he is poking fun at Kazakhstan or America. His own racist attitude is clear but the people he meets illustrate that the attitude is not all the uncommon among Americans either. This look at society, coupled with some surprisingly tender moments that make him understand that beauty is only skin deep, make the movie more than a simple comedy that aims to make us laugh.

Following the recent trend that 'gross' equals 'funny', Borat too has a couple of sequences that cross the line into real bad taste. Borat's naked fight with his manager takes the cake in that respect. It is initially funny but quickly descends into absolute grossness. It does show the lengths that Sacha Baron Cohen is ready to go to for laughs but that doesn't make it any easier to look at.

As long as you are not easily offended(or grossed-out), Borat is a must-watch.

PS: The DVD itself looks like one of those DVDs one burns at home, with the brand name Memorex spelled wrong and the name Borat looking like it was written with a black marker. Pretty neat...