Movie Review - Borat

This weekend I went to Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, on the recommendation of more than a few people. The movie was disappointing at worst and painful at best. I'm much more interested in a film whose trailer appeared before Borat, called The Fountain.

Anyway, the plot of the movie is that a Kazakhstani television reporter (Borat) goes to the United States to learn what he can about Americans and American way of life and create a documentary to show his countrymen. On the way he falls in love with Pamela Anderson, and embarks on a trek from New York to Los Angeles to marry her. The ingenious feat that Sacha Baron Cohen achieves in all this is exposing the prejudices and biases of middle (mostly right wing) America. He then follows with naked man wrestling and an attempt to kidnap Pamela Anderson.

There are a couple of unpleasant things that happened because of this film:

1. The film exposes how un-P.C. the average American is (and really, how un-P.C. the average right-wing American is)
2. The people who appear in the movie most likely have negative consequences to deal with in their lives. The college students who pick up Borat in the R.V. are a prime example. Although, how stupid do you have to be to sign your liability away, even if you are drunk?

My philosophy on humor is that humor shouldn't cause others to suffer, and unfortunately that is exactly what this movie does to several people who appear in the film. While there are funny moments, most of the movie was painful for me to watch.