| | | Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
Features: DVD, Pan and Scan (TV Format), English, Spanish, Subtitled
Sacha Baron Cohen brings his Kazakh journalist character Borat Sagdiyev to the big screen for the first time. Leaving his native Kazakhstan, Borat travels to America to make a documentary. As he zigzags across the nation, Borat meets real people in real situations with hysterical consequences. His backwards behavior generates strong reactions around him exposing prejudices and hypocrisies in American culture.
"...a perfect combination of slapstick and satire, a Platonic ideal of high-and lowbrow..." Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
"Absurd, outrageous, gross, disturbing, insightful, and so funny it'll burst half the blood vessels in your face." Dan Jolin, Empire
"...twice as many laughs as all of this year's other movie comedies combined..." Lou Lumenick, New York Post
"...isn't just one of the funniest movies of the year, it might be one of the funniest movies of all time." Pete Vonder Haar, Film Threat
"You won't know what outrageous fun is until you see Borat. High-five!" Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Editor's Note
Sacha Baron Cohen brings his Borat character to the big screen with this feature length adaptation of his American exploits. Fans of DA ALI G SHOW will already be familiar with the devilishly simple Borat formula, in which the heavily mustachioed TV host from Kazakhstan dupes a number of unwitting citizens into revealing their deepest prejudices, and this movie takes that premise, stirs in a little narrative structure, and serves a side-splitting 84-minute mirth-fest. The action begins with Borat traveling to America alongside his producer Azamat Bagatov (Ken Davitian). After a hotel room viewing of BAYWATCH Borat decides he must travel to California to woo Pamela Anderson, so he and the long-suffering Azamat take a cross-country road trip in an ice cream van, encountering some funny, disturbing, and deeply strange individuals along the way. SEINFELD producer Larry Charles lends his directing talents to BORAT, and he gets the balance between the loosely threaded plot and Borat's encounters with real Americans exactly right. At times the movie threatens to topple over into glorious anarchy, with each situation escalating to ridiculous (and ridiculously funny) extremes, but Charles knows exactly when to put the brakes on and progress to Borat's next encounter--although the police are called at the tail-end of one memorable sequence. Keen-eyed viewers will notice some repetition from the TV show, with Borat once again going to a rodeo and again taking etiquette lessons, but it's almost as if Cohen treats each of these set-pieces as a comedic "bit" he is working on, gradually adding further delirium every time he goes back for another shot. Sometimes it's difficult to tell who, if any, of BORAT's participants are actors, but it matters little when the material is this gut-wrenchingly funny, and it's testament to Cohen's talents that he's managed to take a marginal supporting character from his TV show and turned him into a genuine cultural phenomenon.
| Features | Borat Sountrack Infomercial | | 5 Deleted Scenes | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: French, Spanish Dolby Digital Stereo | | Dubbed: French, Spanish | | Featurettes: Rodeo News Report & World Promotions Tour | | Hebrew Language Button | | Interactive Menus | | Kazakhstan Bay Watch Spoof | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, Spanish | | The "Best Of" Other Deleted Scenes Compilation |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | Borat - DVD By: Chris Cabin - filmcritic.com DVD Reviews Published on: 2/23/2007 6:47 PM | |
Kazakhstan has a pretty sunny disposition for what is, ostensibly, a hellhole. In the middle of this dirt patch between Russia and China lies, a man toils to make his life better. He makes his living as a television reporter for Kazakhstan TV and his sister is the fourth most popular prostitute in the country. His name is Borat Sagdiyev, he has a moustache reserved for used car dealers, and he's just landed on American shores....read the full review |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Foxvideo |
| Release Date: 10/14/2008 |
| Running Time: 86 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2006 | | Catalog ID: 2243427 | | UPC: 00024543434276 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English Dubbed, English, French Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: English, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Standard 1.33:1 [4:3] |
| Cast & Crew | Ken Davitian | | Sacha Baron Cohen | | Alan Keyes - Featuring | | Anthony Hardwick - Cinematographer | | Bob Barr - Featuring | | Bobby Rowe - Featuring | | Craig Alpert, et. al. - Editor | | David Maturana - Art Director | | Erran Baron Cohen - Original Music By | | Jay Roach - Producer | | Larry Charles - Director | | Luenell - Featuring | | Luke Geissbuhler - Cinematographer | | Mariam Behar - Featuring | | Monica Levinson - Executive Producer | | Pamela Anderson - Featuring | | Sacha Baron Cohen, et. al. - Writer |
| Awards |
Nominee (2007) | | | Golden Globe, Borat, Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy | | | Golden Globe, Sacha Baron Cohen, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy |
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| | Professional Reviews | Rolling Stone
"The satire is scaldingly funny and shockingly on target." 09/07/2006 p.122Entertainment Weekly
"[A] specimen of satirical brilliance so fearless and liberatingly offensive that it ought to be included in every high school syllabus pertaining to (a) multicultural sensitivity and (b) the craft of socially relevant comedy." 09/29/2006 p.56 Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "[Baron Cohen] has never been one for mere pranks or easy giggles -- his comedy here, as ever, being textured, intelligent and deeply political." 12/01/2006 p.38 Box Office
"Suggesting some of the maniacal skill of Peter Sellers, Cohen so deeply inhabits the character of Borat that all traces of the actor disappear." 11/01/2006 p.98 Rolling Stone
4 stars out of 4 -- "BORAT will make you laugh till it hurts, and you'll still beg for more...Cohen makes prime slapstick out of all the silliness..." 11/20/2006 p.134 Entertainment Weekly
"[T]he effect is to leave an audience convulsed, and unsettled, with laughter....A kind of slapstick, psycho-political JACKASS..." -- Grade: A- 11/10/2006 p.54 New York Times
"The brilliance of BORAT is that its comedy is as pitiless as its social satire, and as brainy." 11/03/2006 p.E17 Rolling Stone
Ranked #8 in Rolling Stone's "The 10 Best Movies Of 2006." 12/28/2006 p.118 Entertainment Weekly
Included in Entertainment Weekly's "Top 10 Films Of The Year" -- "BORAT is nothing less than brilliant avant-garde political art..." 12/29/2006 102 Film Comment
Ranked #6 in Film Comment's "20 Best Films Of 2006." 01/01/2007 p.36 Ultimate DVD
5 stars out of 5 -- "[Cohen] has the brilliant knack of immersing himself in a persona and manipulating those around him without appearing malicious." 05/01/2007 p.93 ReelViews 8 of 10
Overwhelmingly positive word of mouth can be a double-edged sword for a filmmaker. Although effusive praise builds anticipation, it can also elevate expectations to levels that cannot possibly be met. This is why some viewers who see a movie after it has won a Best Picture Oscar emerge disappointed. It also explains why some late-comers to Borat may find it to be less hilarious than expected. Don't misunderstand: Borat is a funny movie, and well worth the price of admission regardless of whether your comedy tastes run to low-brow, scatological humor or more subtle politically tinged satire. However, it's hard for any movie to live up to the hype when it's being billed as "the funniest of all-time." - James Berardinelli
Reel.com 9 of 10
Make no mistake, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is the funniest comedy of the year. This offshoot of Sacha Baron Cohen's Da Ali G Show is also the most outrageous. The English comic, in the guise of naive Kazak journalist Borat Sagdiyev ("I second most successful in all Kazakhstan"), offers a master class in the politically incorrect as Borat arrives in the United States with preconceptions that are sexist, racist, and anti-Semitic. But as Borat tours a United States that he finds completely perplexing, there is more at work than mere comedy or satire in this astute look at the U.S. as seen through the eyes of a stranger. - Pam Grady
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