I’ll start by saying when I saw the previews for this film, I thought it wouldn’t be worth seeing. It looked to be insanely stupid. As it turns out it was insanely stupid. And that turns out to be its saving grace.
If this film took itself seriously, if it made any effort to be intelligent, it would fail as a racist, misogynistic, offensive pile of shit. But, the fact it’s not trying to be pretentious makes it work. Yes, this film is bigoted and racist and offensive, there is absolutely no doubt to that. However, that’s what makes it funny because through the character Borat (played by Sacha Baron Cohen) you see people behave as they really are. And it shows how misogynistic many people really are. The frat boys in the film are suing saying the release they signed is invalid, but they don’t come off as badly as the coup-de-grace which is the dinner party in the deep-south mansion.
The change in attitude when Borat brings his black lady-friend in goes beyond anything you could possibly imagine. It’s uncomfortable yet funny at the same time. Sure, there are moments when the film drags, and there are moments when it misses its mark, but all-in-all the filmmakers did a great job.