MOVIE

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This afternoon I went to a movie. Hubby went to see Casino Royale and I went to see Borat. It was a very FUNNY movie.

British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has been making the rounds on American television all week, promoting his hilarious, purposefully offensive new film, "Borat," and appearing full-on in the gonzo guise of his most wickedly disarming character, Borat Sagdiyev, a visiting TV reporter from Kazakhstan.

After a naughty bit introducing "Saturday Night Live," Borat was later interviewed by the "Today" show’s Matt Lauer and sat down with David Letterman on "Late Show."

The chipper morning anchorman and the cynical talk show host both willingly, if nervously, played along with Baron Cohen — flinching and snickering as the smiling, seemingly guileless Borat offered up a high-five or a deadpan leer to punctuate broken English tales of his dead wife, mentally disabled brother and younger sister, "No. 4 prostitute in all of Kazakhstan." But Lauer and Letterman each looked relieved and a bit giddy when it was over, as if they had narrowly escaped some terrible fate.

In the film (which carries the slyly unwieldy subtitle, "Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"), the unwitting victims of Baron Cohen’s calculated jabs don’t come off nearly as well — they wind up confused and stammering, often unmasked as boorish, bigoted or, at the very least, not so bright.

Fans of Baron Cohen’s "Da Ali G Show," which premiered on HBO in 2003, will know the setup. Borat first surfaced alongside another Baron Cohen alter ego, Cockney gangsta hip-hopper/host Ali G, the self-proclaimed "voice of da youth." The G-man’s thing is working up politicos, pundits and businessmen such as Newt Gingrich, Andy Rooney and Donald Trump, who invariably lose it after they’ve endured a series of pestiferous interview questions.

Be warned: Viewers of "Borat" are made to feel almost as uncomfortable, as the mockumentary, directed by Larry Charles ("Seinfeld," "Masked and Anonymous"), follows Baron Cohen traveling from New York to Los Angeles in a rickety ice-cream truck, pretending to film a documentary that will be seen only in Kazakhstan.

Apparently the only other actors are Borat’s sidekick "manager" Azamat (played by American Ken Davitian) and Luenell (the comedian, playing a prostitute Borat summons to a fancy dinner party) — though it’s probable that Pamela Anderson (whom Borat plots to take as his "virgin" bride) have been brought in on some of the jokes.

At a rodeo in Virginia, Borat tells the crowd, "We support your war of terror," and elicits cheers when he says, "Premier George W. Bush will drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq." But then gets booed when he sings a Kazakhstan anthem to the tune of the "Star Spangled Banner."

Elsewhere, Borat lets a group of feminists in on a little-known Kazakhstan discovery about the size of women’s brains; he cajoles an etiquette coach into teaching him how to use the toilet; parties with some boozed-up, misogynistic frat boys; accepts an altar call at a Pentecostal revival; and asks a gun shop owner what he thinks is the best weapon for killing Jews ("A 9mm or a .45" is the merchant’s suggestion).

Of course, beyond the question of how he gets these people to go along for the ride (always with signed release forms, and sometimes for cash, it’s been reported), there’s a much bigger question to be asked: What is Baron Cohen, a Cambridge grad and son of devout Jewish parents, really up to?

It’s one thing to stage a hysterically over-the-top nude wresting match with Davitian. It’s quite another to improvise pointedly satirical scenes with unsuspecting, real-life "co-stars," always staying in character and never betraying the ruse.

That’s the most obvious part of Baron Cohen’s twisted comedic genius. The other, deeper part is the way he makes us squirm until we laugh and laugh until we squirm, holding up a mirror to our darkest fears and prejudices.