That Entire Movie Just Happened

We interrupt this ongoing presentation of my favorite television shows past and present to bring you movie review the sixth:

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakstan

I'm sitting here with a blank page, trying to think of the words to adequately describe this movie. The phrase "Funniest movie ever made" is kicking around my head right now, but I can't quite commit it to print. True, I've seen several surprisingly hysterical movies this year (Thank You For Smoking, Talladega Nights, Beerfest), and Borat simply blew them all out of the water. I think back to other classic comedies (Office Space, Super Troopers, Dodgeball, Blues Brothers, Spaceballs, etc), and I'm quite sure I laughed harder and more often at this movie than possibly any other movie in history.

The problem is, I don't know that I can really compare it with other comedies. For one thing, and I didn't learn this until afterward, but apparently the vast majority of the movie was unscripted. Which means, when Borat makes his journey around the country and encounters random people, the atrociously prejudiced and intolerant things these people said were unscripted. As in, the people said these horrible things of their own volition, and the sentiments were rooted in their own beliefs. This is what separates Borat from probably its closest counterpart, Thank You For Smoking, in my opinion. Smoking was another mockumentary of sorts which presented terrible people saying uproariously terrible things, and presented a similarly brutal satire on its chosen subject. But those lines were scripted; Borat's lines were real. I'm still absolutely flabbergasted by this.

I mean, I once had an English paper to write about social class differences, where we were supposed to go somewhere with a different class and observe the people. I didn't feel like doing this, so I made up my entire "experience," complete with absolutely perfect quotations from people that clearly identified them as being of a lower social class. Afterwards, my professor expressed astonishment at the fact that those were real quotations, and how perfectly they fit the points I was trying to make. Yeah, that's 'cause they weren't. So when the prejudices expressed in Borat were so perfectly offensive and horrendous, I can't help but have the same feeling - - just too good to be true.

But accepting that for a moment, what else can I say about this film? How about the fact that it single-handledly created its own genre of film: the horror-comedy. I'm not talking satirical horror like Scream, horrible comedy like Freddy Got Fingered, or so-horrible-it's-funny like Judge Dredd. No, I mean the type of comedy that's so offensive, you have to cover your mouth in horror every time you laugh. You've witnessed moments like this in other mediums; the most appropriate comparison is South Park, both the tv episodes and the movie. Those moments where they say something so patently outrageous, so shockingly hysterical, that you have to cover your mouth and look at the person next to you to make sure you just heard that correctly. Well, damn near every joke in Borat is that type of joke, and they sure kept the jokes coming. No wonder Trey Parker and Matt Stone said it might be the funniest movie ever made -this is right up their alley. Mine as well, of course. That's the type of comedy I was going for with the MZRM sketch at Law Revue last year. God and censorship willing, that's the type we ought to bring back this year.

There were so many uproarious moments in this movie, I couldn't possibly recount them all. Now, I don't want to spoil anything for someone yet to see the movie, but I feel confidant that just reciting these points won't give anything away, because they truly must be seen to be believed. Here's my short list of greatest hits - - The Running of the Jew. The bear and the kids. Shopping for the Hummer. The bag of shit. "The blood of every man, woman, and child in Iraq...." Sacking Pamela. The successful use of the "not" joke at the end. Bob Barr and the cheese. The best defense against Jews. Retard. There are just too many to possibly count.

Lest we not forget the full-frontal male nudity. If all of the other jokes didn't make you squirm, the uncomfortability factor shoots through the roof right about now. Especially when it spills out into public. Although averting the eyes is absolutely necessary, I laughed my ass off during this entire scene.

And mad props to Sasha Baron Cohen for having possibly the biggest comic cajones in recorded history. I thought Colbert had brass ones for standing in front of the President at the Correspondent's Dinner and subtly ripping him a new one; that's brave in its own right, 'cause I was worried he might get a bag thrown over his head and get carted off to Guantanamo, never to be heard from again. But the places Cohen went - the ghetto, the rodeo, the Pamela incident -- how he didn't wind up in jail or dead is beyond me. Absolutely fearless.

Funniest movie ever made? If not, certainly a contender.

My score: A+
Recommendation: GO SEE THIS MOVIE IMMEDIATELY.