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Borat! By David DiCerto Catholic News Service NEW YORK (CNS) -- British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen best known as the titular character of HBO's "Da Ali G. Show," inhabits another one of his peculiar personas in the juvenile and cumbersomely titled mock documentary "Borat! Cultural Learning of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" (20th Century Fox). Cohen is Borat Sagdiyev, a clueless, anti-Semitic journalist from Kazakhstan who travels to the United States to report on the American way of life. (Think a wacky combination of Charlie Chaplin, Alexis d'Tocqueville and Yakov Smirnoff.) After seeing Pamela Anderson in an episode of "Baywatch" while staying in a New York hotel, the chauvinistic Borat becomes infatuated with her, embarking on a cross-country odyssey with his portly producer, Azamat (Ken Davitian), to meet and woo the curvaceous actress. Some of the outrageous pranks -- many involving real people not in on the joke -- are, admittedly, funny. (At one point, Borat's suitcase flies open on a crowded subway unleashing a live rooster on the startled straphangers.) But in satirizing American culture and politics, any wit is heavily outweighed by vulgarity, as Cohen and director Larry Charles go for shock laughs that range from the distasteful (in the opening tour of his village, Borat introduces viewers to the "town rapist"), to the visually gross (a naked Borat and Azamat get into a protracted tussle in their hotel room that spills out into the hallway and, eventually, a packed convention room downstairs). The film contains pervasive coarse sexual and scatological humor, crass sight gags, masturbation, nudity, some irreverent remarks, and excessive rough and crude language, as well as some ethnic stereotypes. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. - - - DiCerto is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.org/movies. END Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed. CNS · 3211 Fourth St NE · Washington DC 20017 · 202.541.3250 |
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