Film / Borat

"Jagshemash! My name Borat! I like you. I like sex. Is nice!"

— First lines of the movie, and also the least offensive thing you'll hear him say

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan is a 2006 black comedy mockumentary film that centers around Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen, in one of his guerrilla commentary-style characters), a humble reporter from Kazakhstan and a racist, antisemitic, misogynistic stranger to American culture, who travels around the United States with his manager Azamat (Ken Davitian) to learn about its culture.

Borat's odyssey — which includes stops in such diverse places as New York City, Washington, D.C., a live Morning Show, a Virginia rodeo (where Borat attempts to sing the national anthem with his own lyrics), a confederate antique shop, a Jewish couple's bed and breakfast, and a born-again Christian revival tent service — ends up being framed by his final destination in California, where he plans to find and wed Pamela Anderson, having grown completely enamored with her after catching an episode of Baywatch on TV.

It is worth noting that a) the director of this film, Larry Charles, and both of its producers, Baron Cohen and Jay Roach, are Jewish, and b) most of the other people featured in the film were completely unaware of their ultimate role in the resulting movie. (In fact, the movie contains only 4 actors: Baron Cohen, Ken Davitian, Pamela Anderson herself, and Luenell, who plays a kind-hearted New Orleans prostitute that Borat befriends on his journey.) Controversy followed the film for many of the above-mentioned reasons, including lawsuits brought by many of the subjects of Borat's attention. It has been banned in all Arab countries save Lebanon, and Russia has discouraged cinemas there from showing it.

The government of Kazakhstan was none-too-pleased with it, either, due to all the "No, we're not really racist, homophobic Ruritanians" phone calls their foreign relations department had to deal with. Despite this, the film has a cult following in the republic, helped by the First Daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva, who told their government to lighten up and enjoy the joke, and other government officials who appreciated its treatment of a rare subject. Reportedly, it's done wonders for their tourism sector^note But be warned: Kazakhstan does not, in fact, have the world's greatest potassium production.

Despite the large number of lawsuits and controversies, Borat, originally expected to flop, was a great success in terms of critical response, financial performance, and cultural impact. It spawned a Creator-Driven Successor in 2009's Brüno, starring another of Baron Cohen's characters. In fall 2020, a sequel was confirmed to have been completed; it was eventually released in late October of that year through Prime Video under the name Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

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Other moving film pages have inferior tropes!

• Accentuate the Negative: The further into the south he goes, the more Borat is seemingly surrounded by people who are evidently just as if not more bigoted and backwards than he is (with the people in the rodeo and the frat boys being perhaps the worst), and the movie spends over half of its screentime in those states. That said, Baron Cohen has mentioned that over 400 hours of footage were recorded, so it's easy to imagine what got cut. Even so, it's worth noting that the final footage still shows people who are accommodating, if perhaps with Condescending Compassion.
• Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: Played for Laughs when, in the middle of their brawl, Borat and Azamat run naked and screaming in gibberish into a crowded elevator. They immediately stop screaming and face quietly ahead as the elevator goes up, and then immediately start screaming and fighting again the moment the doors open.
• Actually Pretty Funny: While Borat's antics tend to elicit annoyance (if not outright hostility) these reactions aren't exactly uncommon. A few examples include:
  • The guy who delivers the telegram about Borat's wife is clearly amused by his reaction.
  • The driving instructor who visibly smirks when Borat tries drinking behind the wheel.
  • The weather reporter who is barely able to speak over his laughter when Borat interrupts his broadcast.
  • While subtle, the antique store owner gets a chuckle out of Borat trying to pay in pubic hair.
  • Borat's quip about nobody liking his neighbor manages to make AN ENTIRE CHURCH lose their shit.
• Adaptation Expansion: Borat started as a cultural commentary character in a series of sketches on Da Ali G Show.
• Alter-Ego Acting
• Ambiguous Innocence: Borat is an embodiment of this trope. He is a very innocent character, but that results in him doing not-so-innocent things.
• And There Was Much Rejoicing: When a hotel concierge solemnly informs Borat of the death of Borat's wife back home, Borat joyfully hugs the baffled messenger and dances around the room.
• Angry White Man: The frat-boys Borat travels with. They have a low opinion of women and minorities and in real life tried to sue the producers for defamation, even though they weren't forced or tricked into saying anything.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Before departing on his journey, Borat acknowledges that Kazakhstan's glory is held back by many issues: economic problems, social problems, and the Jews.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Borat's and Azamat's "Kazakhstani" speech is mostly Hebrew and Armenian, respectively. The words in the credits are Polish. The "Kazakh village" is a Romani village in Romania.
  • Borat's female family members are referred to by the surname Sagdiyev. As Kazakhs, they would use the feminine form Sagdiyeva.
• The Backwards Я:
  • The Cyrillic character Д used in the movie's title is really pronounced similar to "d", not an "a". In fact, reading the title of the film poster in Cyrillic would be "Voyadt", with the R being the wrong way round.
  • The DVD release also had a literal backwards R. (The goal was to make the DVD look like a cheap bootleg.)
• Bad Humor Truck: Borat and Azamat's choice of cross-country conveyance, complete with trained guard animal a black bear named Oksana.
• Bag of Kidnapping: What a "traditional marriage sack" actually is. It doesn't work quite the way he planned.
• Barely-There Swimwear: We see an example at the end, worn by Borat. In one of the deleted scenes, Azamat wears one in a Baywatch parody.
• Bears Are Bad News: Borat and Azamat secure a black bear as a guard animal to protect their truck. This works out as well as could be expected.
• Beauty Inversion: Tall, Dark, and Handsome Sacha Baron Cohen makes himself into the live action cartoon character Borat Sagdiyev through an enormous mustache, frizzy hair, and a cheap suit.
• Berserk Button: Borat catches Azamat masturbating over Borat's Pamela Anderson magazine, and all hell breaks loose for about five abominable - and very uncomfortably naked - minutes.
• Betty and Veronica: Hooker with a Heart of Gold Big Beautiful Woman Luenell is the Betty and celebrity sex symbol Pamela Anderson is the Veronica to Borat's Archie. Played for Laughs as the love triangle only exists in Borat's head.
• Big Damn Movie: Notably averted, particularly compared to Da Ali G Show's previous movie spinoff, Ali G Indahouse. Though it definitely has a much more focused plot than most of Borat's segments on the show, and it spends more time letting Borat express himself through his monologues, the movie more-or-less plays out like an extended episode of the TV show. Interestingly, it turned out to be much more successful than Indahouse, which was a clear-cut example of a Big Damn Movie.
• Big "WHAT?!": Borat's reaction when the driving instructor tells him that women in America have the right to choose who they have sex with.
• Black Comedy Animal Cruelty: Borat and Azamat break into a hearty laugh once they learn that Pamela Anderson recently attended a protest against the mistreatment of animals.
  • In that same scene, the head of Oksana the bear can be briefly seen in Azamat's refrigerator.
• Black Comedy Rape:
  • Borat is flabbergasted to learn that in the United States, women have the right to say no to sexual advances.
  • Also, Borat recalling he was nearly violated with a sex toy at a Gay Pride parade.
• Bland-Name Product: The DVD's top part is printed to look like it was burned onto a Demorex brand recordable disc. It even has a parody of the Memorex slogan — "Is life? No. Demorex."
• Blatant Lies: "Yes, I'm standing right in the middle of Times Square" - Azamat to the Kazakh minister, from a phone booth in the middle of nowhere.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Played for Laughs. Borat has a very unusual and backwards sense of right and wrong. Despite disliking homosexuals, he himself isn't above doing "gay" things with other men (though he doesn't understand they're gay-related), and considers incest to be A-okay, all just to name a few.
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick:
  • Borat's description of Pamela Anderson upon seeing her on TV.
    Borat: This C.J. was like no Kazakh woman I have ever seen. She had golden hairs, teeth as white as pearls, and the asshole of a seven-year-old.
  • Borat describes Kazakhstan as having problems such as "economic, social, and Jew."
• Brick Joke:
  • Early in the film, Borat meets with a professional comedy trainer, who tries to teach him the proper use of the word "NOT!" in a joke and he doesn't seem to get it. Near the end of the movie, he nails it at a particularly inappropriate, but hilarious, time.
    (while being arrested for trying to kidnap Pamela Anderson, as she's running away)
    "Pamela! I am not attracted to you anymore....NOT!"
  • At the rodeo, Borat attempts to sing the (fictitious) national anthem of Kazakhstan to the tune of the American national anthem. The “original” version of this Kazakh anthem plays in full over the film’s end credits, complete with an onscreen demand for the viewer to stand for it.
• Broken Pedestal: Borat's journey in America is spearheaded by his fantasy of marrying Pamela Anderson, who he idolizes for her virginal purity. However, he is shown her sex-tape with Tommy Lee by the college students, shattering his pre-held belief of her and sending him spiraling into sadness. He does end up completing his journey, if only out of denial.
• Brooklyn Rage: Borat's reception on the streets of New York is less than friendly, with people shouting obscenities in his face just for introducing himself. When he tries to shake hands with and kiss a subway passenger: "Touch me and I will punch you in your fucking balls!"
• Brother–Sister Incest:
  • Both Borat and his late wife were conceived by his hometown's local rapist.
  • Borat casually makes out with Kazakhstan's fourth best prostitute, before introducing her as his sister.
  • Borat's sister apparently made the mistake of sexually taunting their mentally disabled brother Bilo through the bars of his cage, and paid the price.
• Camera Abuse: At one point in his naked fight with Azamat, Borat launches the camera directly into him.
• Cannot Tell a Joke: According to Azamat, Kazakhstan ranks 98th for its sense of humor, so Borat meets with a comedy expert to learn the basics of American humor. It takes him the entire movie to get the timing right on "NOT!!" jokes.
• The Casanova: Borat fancies himself as this. To the audience (as well as his unsuspecting interviewees), he would probably come off as a perverted rapist.
  (from a deleted scene)
  Borat: I have had gonorrhea many times. Ladies very much like Borat. High five!
• Categorism as a Phobia: Borat went into an over-the-top panic attack when the B&B he was staying at turned out to be operated by a Jewish couple.
• Caught with Your Pants Down: Borat catches Azamat masturbating over Borat's Pamela Anderson magazine. Hilarity Ensues.
• Celeb Crush: Borat has an extreme one over Pamela Anderson, to the extent of changing his plans from staying in New York to driving cross-country to California to take her hand in (non-consensual) marriage at a public signing, which goes about as well as you'd expect.
• Combat Breakdown: Borat and Azamat's naked fight gets broken up by security when it enters into a public gathering.
• Comically Missing the Point: After abandoning Borat, Azamat goes to Hollywood cosplaying as Oliver Hardy, even quoting the latter’s famous catchphrase when Borat confronts him. Borat decides to forgive him for their earlier falling out, reasoning that he hadn’t travelled all that way to fight a man dressed as Hitler.
• Conspicuous Consumption: Borat's neighbor, Nursultan Tulyakbay, always attempts to match whatever conveniences Borat purchases for himself by buying one of his own, but struggles to do so due to having less money than him. Played for Laughs in that, due to the film's exaggeration of Kazakhstan's poverty, the "luxuries" they purchase are actually just basic necessities, such as front door steps and glass windows. Borat considers it a “great success” that he has a clock radio while Tulyakbay cannot afford one.
• Contrived Coincidence: Borat is infatuated with Pamela Anderson and wants to marry her, but he doesn't want to be unfaithful to his wife back in Kazakhstan, because she'll snap his cock off. In the very next scene, he gets a letter from back home: his wife is dead, freeing him to pursue Pam. High five!

• Credits Gag: Costume designer Jason Alper is also credited as providing "Mr Baron Cohen's feces".

• Culture Clash: The movie is all about this Played for Laughs.
• Darkest Hour: He's well on his way once Azamat leaves him, stealing his bear, money and passport, but it's the sight of Pamela Anderson's sex tape with Tommy Lee that truly crushes him. He reaches his lowest point crying himself to sleep outside a church in front of a makeshift fire, having freed his hen.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Played for laughs. In one scene when Borat desires to seek out a woman for sex, he is flabbergasted to learn that in the US, women have the right to say no to sexual advances.
  • The whole movie could be seen as one giant parody to this trope.
• Despair Event Horizon: Parodied in which Borat has Azamat walk out of him, he falls into despair over thinking he'll never be a man (despite the reassurances of an RV-full of chauvinists). His tears of despair are laughable.
• Developing Nations Lack Cities: The film exaggerates this trope for humor in the most hilariously vulgar ways imaginable. The country of Kazakhstan is portrayed as consisting of a single village that combines all the worst aspects of Ruritania with The Dung Ages: the inhabitants are all inbred and treat Black Comedy Rape and Brother–Sister Incest casually, cattle are kept inside people's houses, glass windows are considered an expensive luxury, people barely live past 43, the village blacksmith doubles as the abortion-provider, the villagers shun Jews with superstitious horror and even hold an annual "Running of The Jew", and where (according to the national anthem) a fairly average modern swimming pool is considered a "marvel to behold". That said, the country is credited as the world's number one exporter of potassium...
• Disproportionate Retribution: Borat claims, about the film, that "If it not success, [he] will be execute."
• Double-Sided Book: After the film came out, a double-sided book was released, supposedly written by the titular character. One side was titled "Touristic Guidings to Minor Nation of U.S. and A." and the other side was "Touristic Guidings to Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan". They were both, of course, riddled with broken English and glaring factual errors, as per the usual for Borat.

• Elevator Action Sequence: During the naked brawl, and interrupted by a number of baffled witnesses.
• Engineered Public Confession: The college students, who freely ran off at the mouth about their low opinions of women and minorities, sued the makers of Borat over this. And lost.
• Everything Is Racist: Most people shown in the South in the movie.
  • The dinner party guests disperse as soon as they see Luenell (although she is quite conspicuously a streetwalker).
  • The antique store is filled with pro-secession propaganda.
  • The college students who are nice to Borat complain that "minorities run the world."
  • The guy behind the counter of the gun shop doesn't bat an eyelid when Borat asks for the best weapon for which to kill Jews and recommends a 9mm or a .45, even giving Borat a Desert Eagle to sample.
    • Of course handing him the Desert Eagle is itself Fridge Brilliance because it's an Israeli gun.
• Everyone Has Standards: At first, even Borat seems to think that the church people are a little… weird.
• Fan Disservice: The naked fight between Borat and Azamat.
  • Also the bonus scene of Borat and Azamat's Sexydrownwatch Baywatch idea. It can be found here (NSFW...a lot).
• Fat and Skinny: Azamat and Borat, respectively.
• Fauxreigner: The British Sacha Baron Cohen as Kazakh Borat Sagdiyev
• Fictional Fan, Real Celebrity: Borat has a crush on Pamela Anderson and goes to America to propose to her. When she turns him down, he tries to abduct her.
• Fish out of Water: The Movie. Borat's ignorance of American culture and the reactions of the people around him to it are the backbone of nearly every scene.
• Foreign Queasine: Borat offers a politician some cheese that Borat's wife had made. To be polite, said politician eats some — and then Borat informs him that it was made from her breastmilk.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Not in a visual sense, but if you pay close attention to Borat when he's speaking to Pamela Anderson at the film's climax, he mentions that both he and his deceased wife were children of Bogdev the village rapist.
• Freudian Threat: Borat's wife threatens to snap off his cock if he cheats on her.
• Funny Background Event: When Borat finally catches up with Azamat, they go to his apartment. When Azamat opens his fridge, a bear's head is clearly visible on a plate, implying that Azamat has been eating the bear.
• Funny Foreigner: The whole point of the movie.
• Gag Penis: Well, if the size of Borat's censor box (which reaches past his knees) during the naked fight is any indication. Inverted by Azamat. Long story short, he never needs a censor box at any point during the fight in question.
• Global Ignorance: Borat's excuse to Azamat for visiting California (he actually intends to wed Pamela Anderson) is that "Pearl Harbor is there. So is Texas."
• Greedy Jew: Spoofed, especially with "The Running of the Jew."
• Henpecked Husband: Borat, whose wife threatens to snap his dick off if he cheats on her. Fortunately for him, she dies.
• The Hero's Journey
• Honest John's Dealership: Reversed here, as the dealer sells them a vehicle that is exactly as described: a used ice cream truck.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Luenell, a prostitute that Borat hires, is one of the nicest people that he meets in the entire movie, and treats him with patience and kindness whenever they interact. Borat ends up marrying her at the end of the movie after things fall through with Pamela Anderson.
• Humans Through Alien Eyes: As an outsider, Borat is free to put his own mirror up to the silly conventions we take for granted.
• I Ate WHAT?!: Borat feeds cheese made with his wife's breast milk to an unsuspecting person, only telling him this after he's eaten it.
• Innocent Bigot: How Borat is portrayed. He's a generally friendly, well-meaning fellow and his grossly racist, misogynistic, and anti-Semitic views are a product of his upbringing in Kazakhstan, where such beliefs are apparently considered mainstream and normal.
• Inn Security: Parodied. The old couple who run the bed and breakfast Borat and Azamat stay at seem to be perfectly nice and accommodating, but instill great terror in their guests due to being Jewish.
• Intentional Engrish for Funny: All over the place, starting with the movie's subtitle.
• Irony: Borat asks for the best weapon to kill Jews. He's briefly given a Desert Eagle.
• Jive Turkey: After getting pointers on how to dress and speak from a group of African-American youths, he tests his "knowledge" at a hotel, and it very much falls under this trope.
• Literal-Minded: Borat thinks that a "pussy magnet" is an actual device that will forcibly attract women to his automobile, and he begs a car dealer to include a pussy magnet with the vehicle.
• Lyrical Dissonance: Borat sings the national anthem of fictional Kazakhstan to the tune of "The Star-Spangled Banner".
• Madman in the Attic: Borat apparently has a mentally disabled brother named Bilo whom they keep locked up in a cage. Their sister made the mistake of taunting him through the bars.
• Man in a Bikini: Borat's "mankini".
• Mid-Battle Tea Break: The elevator interlude during the naked fight. Of course, as soon as the doors open, pandemonium continues.
• Mockumentary: In-universe, Borat and Azamat have been sent to America by Kazakstan's Ministry of Information, and are tasked with documenting Western culture in order to improve Kazakhstan's own. The entire film is formatted as a real documentary, complete with fake logos at the start.
• My God, What Have I Done?: The look on Borat's face when he realizes he spent the evening with two homosexuals tells the whole story.
• N-Word Privileges:
  • Borat would not have been written as an intense Anti-Semite if his actor, Sacha Baron Cohen, were not a practicing Jew himself. Baron Cohen's portrayal of Borat is still controversial with the Jewish demographic, however.
  • Parodied when Borat tries to check into a hotel after getting a ghetto makeover. He, a white man, walks into the lobby wearing his pants low, and starts speaking to the (also white) manager in stereotypical Black colloquialisms, even straight up calling the manager the N-Word itself.
• Naked People Are Funny:
  • The naked brawl. Also present in the massage scene on the DVD, though Borat spends a lot of time in that under a towel.
  • When practicing for the dinner, Borat shows a picture of his son Hooeylewis, played by transsexual porn star Brittany Cox Xx (before her transition and during the time she was still a man known as Stonie). The tutor is disturbed when Borat starts showing picutres of his son with no clothes on, especially when one of the pictures shows Borat with his head next to his son's penis.
• Negative Continuity: Several of Borat's segments on Da Ali G Show, where the character made his debut, show him visiting America and learning about its culture. The film's plot is presented as Borat's first ever trip to the United States.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Borat bears an uncanny resemblance to Josef Stalin when he was young◊.
• No Woman's Land: Kazakhstan.
• NOT!: A "comedy expert" struggles to teach Borat the intricacies of this witticism. It takes him the whole movie to catch on.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Baron Cohen employs a great deal of this in his characterization of Borat.
• Obliviously Evil: Really, you could forgive Borat for most of the offensive things he does, since he thinks they're completely normal, due to his very backwards upbringing.
• Overly Long Gag:
  • Played for Laughs. When Borat is told he has to include a pause in a NOT! joke, he sits in complete silence for nearly ten seconds. The tutor decides to change the subject, only for Borat to suddenly cut him out with a loud “NOT!”.
  • A deleted scene included on the DVD involves Borat asking a grocery store employee what lots and lots and lots of items are. (They're all cheese.)
• Overly Narrow Superlative: According to the anthem, Kazakhstan has the "cleanest prostitutes in the region, except, of course, for Turkmenistan".
  • Not to mention the famous pool whose filter is a "marvel to behold" in that it removes 80% of human solid waste.
• Parental Incest: Borat and his mother are both children of Boltak the Rapist.
• Patriotic Fervor: Exaggerated to ridiculous extents.
  • The most off-the-wall example is probably when Borat is invited to sing at a rodeo. He rattles off outrageous jingoistic statements, up to and including a wish for George W. Bush to drink the blood of every Iraqi man, woman and child — and the audience loves it.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Borat and Azamat are both extremely racist and misogynistic. This leads to many instances of Cringe Comedy with the real-life people that Borat meets, especially those that are even more racist and misogynistic than he is.
• Poirot Speak
• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Borat after getting a ghetto makeover.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Cheerful, exuberant Borat and cynical worrywart Azamat, respectively.
• Refuge in Audacity: Borat's idea of "marrying" Pamela Anderson is shoving her into a bag and trying to run off with her—an instance of marriage by capture. He gets as far as putting the sack over her.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Technically, Borat is correct when he claims that on average, men have bigger brains than women. Because head size is proportional to body mass and men are usually bigger - although because women have denser collections of neurons, the actual brain capacity is identical. And a woman’s brain is definitely not the size of a squirrel as Borat claims.
• Ruritania: Unlike Kazakhstan in real-life, which is a central Asian country dominated by the open steppe, the film's version of Kazakhstan is more like an amalgamation of the former Warsaw Pact countries with their backwardness and social problems exaggerated to ghoulish, comedic extremes. In real life, the Kazakhs are a Turkic people who've historically had more in-common with the Mongolic peoples than any Slavic culture. Reinforced by the borderline incomprehensible mix of Polish, Hebrew, Romanian, and Armenian words in the place of any actual Kazakh language.
• Scare Chord: Parodied, upon Borat's discovery that his hosts for the night are Jewish.
• Scylla and Charybdis: The interviewees in the film often find themselves in this sort of dilemma: Accommodating Borat's culture, with its innocent, but genuine, bigotry is one thing. Making clear that you don't agree is another. Trying to somehow do both is well-nigh impossible.
• Self-Deprecation: All the jokes mocking Judaism can be countered by the fact that Sacha Baron Cohen himself is Jewish. Fair enough.
• Short Title: Long, Elaborate Subtitle:
  • Used for comedy. Also taken to the next level with the soundtrack: Stereophonic Musical Listenings That Have Been Origin in Moving Film "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"
• Shout-Out: Azamat is dressed as Oliver Hardy when he and Borat reunite, and even tells him that "this is another fine mess [he's] gotten them into."
  • Borat's neighbour, Nursultan Tulyakbay, is named after two real prominent Kazakh politicians, Nursultan Nazarbayev and Zharmakan Tuyakbay.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Borat's neighbor back in his hometown, Nursultan Tulyakbay, apparently constantly tries to one-up him by buying his own copy of whatever amenities Borat has. He spends all of his screentime glowering at Borat, and the animosity is shown to be mutual on Borat's end.
• Stalker with a Crush: Borat becomes this to Pamela Anderson.
• Straw Misogynist: The title character is about as casually sexist as you'd expect for a man from the movie's fictionalized version of Kazakhstan. Then again, part of the point of the character is to embolden American interviewees to reveal their own prejudices, thereby illuminating that such attitudes are alive and well closer to home than we might assume.
• Stylistic Suck: Borat's MySpace page, as well as the original official web site for the movie, which was done as an atrocious personal home page. Also used in-film with the faux-Kazakh Stock Footage.
  • The DVD itself also deliberately looks like a burned copy bootleg, and the poster is printed to look it has crease marks and other damage.
• Super-Stoic Shopkeeper:
  • Charting the lack of reactions to Borat's insane and offensive behavior is just as big a part of the comedy as their befuddlement and outrage.
  • The gun shop owner barely bats an eye before recommending a Desert Eagle to "kill Jews." In his defense, he might have simply been recommending a large purchase to an obviously ignorant customer, or playing a subtle joke by selling an Israeli weapon to an obvious anti-semite.
  • When Borat asks what speed he should drive to kill gypsies, the driving instructor merely tells him to keep it at around 40 mph.
  • In one of the deleted scenes, Borat visits a supermarket and asks the supermarket manager what every single item in the cheese section is...he very patiently replies "That's cheese" to every single one.
• The Tease: According to Borat, his sister enjoyed teasing their brother:
  Borat: Sometime, my sister, she show her vazhin (vagina) to my brother Bilo and say "You will never get this, you will never get it, la la la la la la!" He behind his cage, he cries, and everybody laughs. She goes "You will never get this," but one time he break cage, and he get this, and then we all laugh.
• Teeny Weenie: Unlike Borat, whose member requires a massive censor box to cover, all Azamat needs to cover his are his (admittedly plentiful) rolls of fat.
• Tempting Fate: Before Borat goes to browse the antique shop, Azamat warns him not to spend more than 3 dollars. Borat ends up causing over 400 dollars worth of damages just through his own clumsiness.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: That poor man in the corner of the elevator had this when Borat and Azamat got on, completely naked. Honestly, you can't really blame him.
• Totally Radical: Deconstructed. Borat's attempts at speaking hip-hop slang make him look like a fool to hotel personnel and get him expelled from the lobby for using swear words and calling the receptionist "vanilla face".
• Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: Quite possibly the most uncomfortable one in cinematic history. To elaborate, both men have been running around naked through a hotel, screaming in foreign-sounding gibberish. One of the men was threatening to beat the other silly with a huge rubber dildo. The prop is brought along for the ride in an already occupied elevator. Both men face forward, stand quietly, and enjoy the elevator ride. DING! Doors open. Running and screaming resume.
  • When Borat and Azamat enter the elevator naked, nearly all of the people on the elevator immediately get off. In fact, at first it looks like they're the only ones standing in the elevator until the camera quickly shifts and reveals a stone-faced man tucked in the corner.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Borat is often vulgar, very offensive towards Jews and commit many violations of social taboos, nobody really likes him, despite being portrayed as very comedic.
• Unusual Euphemism:
  • Chocolate face and vanilla face^note black person and white person respectively.
  • Hand party^note Masturbation.
  • Romance explosion^note Ejaculation.
• Vulgar Humor: After politely asking a group of Southern ladies if he could be excused to use the restroom, Borat comes back with a baggie of his own poop, politely asking where he can place it.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • The bear's head can be seen inside the fridge when Borat and Azamat make up, but the rest of its body? God knows.
  • Azamat is last seen when Borat is arrested for trying to kidnap Pamela. He’s not shown on the coach with Borat on the way back to Luenell, and does not appear in the epilogue.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: Borat's accent is a whole lot of things, but it is (intentionally) not Kazakh.
• Younger Than They Look: Borat's mother, the "oldest woman in whole of Kuzcek", looks like a shriveled old woman but is actually only 43.

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