Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Easily the funniest movie of the year, and quite possibly the smartest comedy made this decade.

Is it offensive? You bet, but not in the way that everyone is making it out to be. Beyond being the most hilarious recently-made mockumentary that wasn't made by Christopher Guest, Borat is also a biting political satire. What really makes this film so truly brilliant is that Cohen and director Larry Charles managed to create a film that is accessible to all, despite these underlying political messages and general damnation of consequence. Sure, it happens frequently in the world of television, most notoriously within the world of South Park, but to have a non-animated 90-minute film dedicated to following a faux-Kazakhi as he experiences the often-hidden and dark underbelly that we all know exists in America, but would never admit it, is an incredible feat. When the film isn't making political statements, it's just as funny though, and there are many scenes in particular-- including an absolutely ridiculous wrestling scene-- that are so hysterical that I only stopped laughing because my body was too tired to go on laughing, not to mention I couldn't breathe. Lastly, and possibly most importantly, Borat is a film with a heart of gold, and that's truly the selling point of the film. It's easy to pull off a silly and crude comedy that exists for the sheer pleasure of being silly and crude, but when you're sutured into the life of an outsider that is trying to live out his own (albeit strange) version of the "American Dream," you genuinely care about the guy, and see him not as the cookie-cutter caricature that attackers of the film make him out to be, but rather a relatively sympathetic character. While this film surely isn't for everyone, it is bound to offend just about everyone in some way, but if you get beyond the surface of things, you'll understand why this is such a landmark film. Congratulations Sascha Baron Cohen, beyond being the only person in recent memory to single-handedly piss off an entire nation based on a stage character, you've also managed to create a landmark film-- who's been able to say that about a movie based on sketch character recently?

Overall Rating: 100