I don’t quite know how this movie got made let alone released. Nothing and no-one is sacred in this movie – and you’ll feel guilty for laughing as hard as you’ve ever laughed before.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat Sagdiyev, is Kazakh news reporter who takes it upon himself to learn about America. Watching the TV in his hotel room one night in New York Borat falls in love with Baywatch golden-haired babe CJ, played of course by Pamela Anderson, or Pamala Andersons, as Borat refers to her. This sets him up for a race across the country to California where he, and good friend and producer Azamat Bagatov, take us on a journey that is always both ridiculous and unbelievable.

Much has been made of the fact that the Kazahkstan government were offended by Borat, so much so that they will be or already have released their own counter-movie, but the movie is definitely much more cutting of the Americans. One scene in particular at the rodeo shows some particular Americans for the morons they are. I think the most offensive and startling aspect of the movie was where Borat was deliberately racist or offensive and the person he was interviewing doesn’t even blink an eye!

As the film is shot like a documentary half the time you aren’t quite sure whether all the scenes are gags or whether its all a set up. Cohen plays Borat so straight and his “victims” are so genuine in their response to him it leaves you thinking that such a ridiculousness can only be for real.

Not the funniest comedy of the year (Talladega Nights has got to take that cake) but it is certainly the riskiest and outrageous and the most original. The laughs will reluctantly be pulled out of you, and then you’ll find yourself slinking down in your chair in remorse. Go see it and judge for youself.