Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)

Most of the people on screen in Borat had no idea they were in a comedy, and that’s the problem and the genius in one sentence. Sacha Baron Cohen never breaks. Not once. He stands in rooms full of strangers saying the most outrageous things with the smile of a proud uncle, and the strangers just keep nodding along. That’s the joke, and it lands like a mirror. Some bits are just mean to regular folks who were trying to be polite, and the staged stuff, like the hotel wrestling match with Azamat, goes on so long you start checking the clock. Still: 84 minutes, a reported $18 million budget, $262.6 million worldwide. A 7.3 because the hidden camera pulls more honest reactions out of people than most documentaries, even when it picks on the wrong target. $231 says you say "very nice" in the accent before bedtime and someone in the house groans.

What works: Baron Cohen never breaks character, and the real reactions he pulls out of strangers are funnier and scarier than anything a writer could script.

What doesn’t: Some bits just embarrass polite regular people for a cheap laugh, and the staged scenes drag badly next to the hidden camera ones.

Who it’s for: Grown-ups who love cringe comedy and can watch a stranger’s face fall without hiding behind a pillow.