Borat. Do yourself a favor, vanilla-face, and go see this movie!

Easily the most smartest, most cutting, and by far the most offensive movie of the year. It’s comedy that will have you squirming in your seat. The basic premise is a faux-documentary about a Kazakh reporter sent to America to bring cultural enrichment back home. It’s difficult to tell which scenes in the movie are real and which are staged, but that only adds to the enjoyment.

The best kind of comedy holds a mirror up to society. You laugh in discomfort, either because you see part of yourself in the joke, or (hopefully) you realize that the people being lampooned are your friends and neighbors. Borat shows America as it really is, a nation of polite, friendly people (well, except in New York), many of whom hide ugly prejudices and bigotry. There are scenes where people who are held in high esteem are revealed to be quite evil, and those held as objects of disgust are revealed to be human after all.

From a hilarious rendition of the national anthem at a Virginia Rodeo (who knew Americans were so bloodthirsty?) to Borat’s encounter with genteel Southern racists, the movie is non-stop laughter. Borat is an innocent looking man-child, a naive foreigner bouncing around America trying to discover who we are, and in the process, helping us discover as well. And if that sounds too highbrow for you, just wait until Borat’s “disagreement” with the movie’s producer near the end of the film.