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

Review

Cast & crew

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

(2006)

For those unfamiliar with Borat, he is a leading Kazakhstani journalist who, for this project, travels America learning about its culture. He is also a complete fabrication, the work of Ali G creator Sacha Baron Cohen. Thus his scatologically uproarious investigation includes a scene in which he attends a posh dinner party and returns from the bathroom with his excrement in a plastic bag and presents it to the hostess. He also destroys a Civil War memorabilia shop and lets loose a chicken on the New York subway. A minor niggle is that close examination shows that at least a handful of the sequences might have been set up to some degree. And in cinematic terms it is absolutely nothing special: there's no real reason for it to be a movie at all — its natural home may well be on DVD. But as an example of a comedian willing to take absurd risks for his art, this film — one of the funniest of 2006 — will probably never be surpassed. AS

Contains swearing, sexual references.

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Running time

80min

Country of origin

US / UK

Genre

Satirical Comedy

Alternate title

Borat

Original language

English

Screenplay

Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Mazer, from a story by Baron Cohen, Hines, Baynham, Todd Phillips, from the character created by Baron Cohen

Theatrical distributor

20th Century Fox

UK cinema certificate

UK cinema release date

November 2006




awards information


	Award	Category	Name	Nominee/Winner

	Academy 2006	Writing (Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published)	Sacha Baron Cohen	Nominee
	Academy 2006	Writing (Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published)	Anthony Hines	Nominee
	Academy 2006	Writing (Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published)	Dan Mazer	Nominee
	Academy 2006	Writing (Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published)	Peter Baynham	Nominee
	Golden Globe 2006	Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical	Sacha Baron Cohen	Nominee
	Golden Globe 2006	Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical	Jay Roach	Nominee
	Golden Globe 2006	Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical	Sacha Baron Cohen	Winner