It was a testament to how bad I needed to see this movie.<\/p>\n

When I reviewed the trailer for BORAT last week the day the review went live I was in sweating in San Diego at the Comic-Con, sitting in the sprawling, and overly expansive, hall H. The SNAKES ON A PLANE roundtable interviews had just let out just a few minutes prior and on my way into the heart of geek darkness that held so many thousands of us to see what 20^{th<\/sup> Century Fox was going to be offering in the coming months I was handed a button. It was a large button that had a picture on it: Sacha Baren Cohen, as Borat, holding a small American flag. I was caught unaware and completely forgot that BORAT was a film that Fox was distributing but it was a nearly instantaneous knee-jerk reaction to the reception of the button as I asked whether, at 2:03 p.m., the panel that began at 12:45 and was only supposed to run until 2:15 had made any mention of the man who I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve come to know through Da Ali G Show. It was the nicest \u00e2\u20ac\u0153No\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I was going to hear all weekend. Further, it was kismet, and almost felt like everyone was waiting for me to arrive, that when I took my seat the moderator of the studio’s panel started in about Sacha.<\/p>\n}

The space erupted in cheers as he was introduced to the stage. When he ended up emerging from the ladies bathroom, and not from the hermetically sealed backstage that kept the steerage well away from the talent, in full character, donning his trademark suit, thick moustache and awkward smile, the masses ate up this bread and circus. His exaggerated attempts to take the stage, pratfalls and all, amused those entertained by such a thing but it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t until Sacha gave his thumbs up and introduced two clips from the film that he really had a well-deserved stranglehold on the audience.<\/p>\n

The clips contained such outrageous content and triggered an inordinate amount of howls and laughs from those assembled to witness an ample amount of male nudity that when the lights came up it was already a given this was a movie that needed to be seen to be believed. The moderator satiated that need quick enough by declaring that anyone, anyone at all, who wanted to see the movie had to do nothing more than make their way out of the panel, up to the crosswalks of the convention hall\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s front door, cross an already congested strip of traffic, make their way over a pair of trolley tracks, wade their way through an already thick sea of humanity moving in the opposite direction, get to Borat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ice cream truck\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and claim their free pass to see the movie that night.<\/p>\n

Without straying into hyperbole it was honestly a Running of the Nerds moment that rivaled anything Pamplona has ever witnessed, or take credit for, in their streets. Geeks made a break for it in every which direction. The smell of a free movie ticket drove some of these socially addled gimps to feats of bravery as they tried to jaywalk or employ any other means to get around the automotive and human traffic that stood in their way of getting into this screening. There was yelling, scurrying, jumping, pushing, evading, sliding and diving, twisting and turning of dozens. It was scary, dangerous to be sure, hilarious to have been able to behold and completely out-of-control.<\/p>\n

I was right there with them.<\/p>\n

Thanks to whatever exercise plan I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been keeping to the past 13 years I was able to best most of the competition that was half my age but here I was, an adult of 31 years, participating in a free-for-all that I should have known better to even try or even cared about.<\/p>\n

“Well, if I’m not on a list or formally invited there is no way I’m debasing myself like some chimp,” I should’ve thought.<\/p>\n

But I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care. I wanted and got a ticket and I was going to see this film. I am ultimately glad I did and have explained the initial way I came into seeing this movie as I have because I can categorically state that BORAT was, without question, a movie that has finally, after all these years since STRANGE BREW, defined what it takes to keep me laughing for the entire length of a filmic production.<\/p>\n

To state it more succinctly, BORAT is one of the best comedies to have been made in the past few years. It is completely offensive in every way possible, it uses race and ethnicity to further humor that no one has ever dared try to get away with in an amusing context and it is completely unique beast that finally can call itself art; there is no way you can look at this film and not feel completely attached to its aims or diabolically opposed to how it executes its vision. Films don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t posses this kind of edge anymore, before edgy became a catch-all for mediocrity disguised a few ribald bon mots here or there, and its charms took me completely and satisfyingly. Sure, you can sit through this movie and not find a single thing worth laughing at on the screen; that’s just the nature of comedy. But, any person who opens themselves up, and gives themselves into, Borat’s world, his donat, can see that this is a movie worth every gypsy dollar when it emerges in November.<\/p>\n

What was especially telling about the movie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s potential as a full-length vehicle was evident in that the movie opens just as the trailer did. The mere fact that the trailer was a solid sell to an audience as an amusing ad was an accomplishment but the opening sequences, extended even further, honestly set the tone and pace for the rest of the film. Just as the opening sequences established the crux and flow of the film evem before we were 10 minutes into the movie is a testament to BORAT’s rapid fire storytelling; you get in, establish only what you need to, cut out any extraneous exposition, get on with whatever gag you initially had in mind for the scene, and get the hell out. You could feel the expediency and you are thankful for it.<\/p>\n

This film is ambitious because you can sense that this is a movie where you weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to linger in any one place, something that hampers a lot of comedies in modern cinema. In a television show you are not afforded the luxury of meandering or winding your way to a limp punchline. BORAT understands this notion from the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Go\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t relent. Perhaps one of the best examples of keeping immediacy with the audience\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s attention spans, or lack of one, is when Sacha explains what it is that he enjoys about his village. The visual gags of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153disco dancing\u00e2\u20ac\u009d represented with a circle of grown men in the daylight hours, outside, and in full dress is still as funny as it was in the trailer. The other activities represented are also just as effective at setting a comedic tone. Nothing, however, could compare anyone to being introduced to an event that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite popular with the people he lives with in Kazakhstan: The Running of the Jew. Apart from knowing what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coming as soon as this event is uttered, a throng of Borat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s countrymen blazing a trail as quickly as possible, what could prepare someone for the visual representation of a grotesquely oversized head, colored green, hideously shapen in a way that looks like a stand-in for the Green Goblin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s next appearance on film, donning stereotypical accoutrements of Borat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s natural born enemies? Nothing. Absolutely nothing and as you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re wiping the tears from your face, the scene pushing things even further with the inclusion of the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s children doing something so heinous I am almost at a loss to describe it, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re simultaneously ashamed at yourself for going along with it but you have to congratulate Sacha for executing an idea that he found intrinsically amusing, no matter how some would initially react to it, hoping we would too.<\/p>\n

And the audience loved it.<\/p>\n

By the third or fourth time when you find yourself reacting to some of the events on the screen getting that, apart from the wafer thin conceit about Borat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s escapades across America to get to Pamela Anderson, one has to give credit to Sacha for being able to carry this one-dimensional character for the entire length of the movie without it ever seeming tedious. Borat’s initial encounters with people who believe they are trying to teach him new and exciting activities to bring back to his homeland works as well here as it did on the television show. When Borat wants to buy a car that is a real \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pussy magnet,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as he’s come to hear the idiomatic expression, the salesperson that helps him, or tires to, reveals that small amount of honesty that most people wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t imagine ever revealing in front of a large audience; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the ability to get at people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s openness, and to push hard when need be on someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sense of decorum, that takes BORAT a level above just being a spin-off from a television show.<\/p>\n

The oft discussed rodeo moment, one where Borat does his best to get a crowd on his side completely and then, just as quickly, gets them completely repulsed in a manner of moments is amusing but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really the conversation he has with a gentleman beforehand that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really telling and should have garnerned more attention. When telling Borat of the things he should do in order to blend in with other Americans, commenting that he should shave his black moustache so he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t look like the kind of guy who Americans are fighting in Iraq, was fairly interesting but when this older gentleman lets his unfounded concerns about the amount of explosives Borat could be mistaken for carrying on his person should be decide to keep the facial hair simply confirms what many of us in this country already should know: we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a nation that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kind of comfortable with our deep-seeded prejudices and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really care sharing them when we think no one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s listening. And just when you think you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen it all you get man on man nude wrestling in a hotel room with Borat getting a tea bagging in the process.<\/p>\n

There has been the criticism, by one reviewer, that at times you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what feels like there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s acting and where there feels like there is real interaction between the participants on the screen. I agree wholeheartedly but I also completely disagree. I think that BORAT vibrates the line between what kind of reality the cameras are catching and what is obviously set-up. Yes, of course, it causes some temporal confusion about what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really what but who really cares when Larry Charles has an excellent eye and rhythm about how long you can allow people to gaze at an image before they start question it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s validity. Did I question whether or not that bear was going to eat the children who came running up to the ice cream truck expecting frozen treats? No (and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll make sense later, I promise.). Did I think to myself of what to really make of the accuracy or validity of the big payoff at the end of the film where you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe if Borat is or isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t doing what you think he is? No (and I swear even harder that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll make sense later).<\/p>\n

This is a movie driven by expectations and by surprises within the context of what the plot is trying to accomplish. You could put forth the argument that there really isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t any hard plot here but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s neither here nor there when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re watching Sacha work his comedic techniques without anyone being the wiser. Razor sharp when it comes to manipulation and intuition, finding opportunities within seconds and knowing when it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to really lay on those he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s squeezing for comedic juice Sacha Baron Cohen, and Borat, is absolutely dangerous. Borat isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t looking to bring lessons of cultural teachings from America to his home country. I would submit that he’s fine with who he is, is never going to change, and is more than happy to show Americans for who they ultimately are. For better or, for the people who believe that Iraq should be turned into a glass parking lot, worse.<\/p>\n