Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan · reception & legacy
2006 · Larry Charles
How Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
A massive hit and critical darling in 2006 — Cohen won the Golden Globe and the film scored an Oscar screenplay nomination — it's now revisited more warily, with ongoing debate about its prank ethics and its use of Kazakhstan, even as its status as a defining 2000s comedy holds firm.
What's debated
The perennial fight: is Borat punching up at American bigotry or punching down at the unwitting people (and the entire nation of Kazakhstan) caught in the bit?
Its footprint
"Very nice!", "My wife!" and "Great success!" saturated the culture for years — so durably that Kazakhstan's tourism board eventually adopted "Very nice!" as an official slogan in 2020.
Where it stands
A fixture on best-comedies-of-the-21st-century lists and a 'you had to be alive in 2006' cultural event, though it's quoted far more often than it's rewatched.