'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm' Review
R: Pervasive strong crude and sexual content, graphic nudity, and language
Runtime: 1 Hr and 36 Minutes
Production Company: Four By Two Films
Distributor: Amazon Prime Video
Director: Jason Woliner
Writers: Peter Baynham, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jena Friedman, Anthony Hines, Lee Kern, Dan Mazer, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Swimer
Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova
Release Date: October 23, 2020 (Prime Video)
Because of the release of his first movie, Borat inadvertently brought great shame and became the laughing stock of his home country, Kazakhstan. Given one more chance by his premier, he’s enlisted in a secret mission to deliver a famous monkey as a gift to American Vice President Mike Pence in order to get his country in a President’s club. Unfortunately, by the time he reaches the States, it’s revealed that his estranged teenage daughter Tutar is in the crate as a stowaway with the monkey… being eaten. In a last-ditch effort, Borat decides to give his daughter to Mike Pence as a gift.
In 2006, Sacha Baron Cohen took the world by storm with his film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, a movie that I didn’t watch until last week because I was 8 years old when it came out. First of all, that movie is great. I now understand why everyone loves that film and why Sacha Baron Cohen is one of the best satirical performers that can troll people with fictional characters.
14 years have passed since the release of the first Borat film and Cohen has tackled other projects since then, but with a certain political agenda. Yeah, this British actor/comedian has made it his mission to single-handedly take down the dumbass Americans in power. Just a few years ago, Cohen created the political satire series Who Is America? In it, he played fictional characters and trolled American politicians and citizens — primarily conservatives — while exposing their racist, misogynistic, and downright offensive nature on camera. Now, Cohen is back as his beloved fictional personality, Borat Sagdiyev, in a sequel that plays more like an extended episode of Who is America? That being said, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is the best comedy of 2020 and nothing else comes remotely close.
Times have changed since Cohen’s character debuted in his first feature film, yet Borat retains his same exact nature. He’s still a racist, anti-Semitic, sexist piece of shit, and somehow those attributes have become more transparent in our current American culture. This allows unsuspecting subjects to show their true nature around him, just like in the previous film. This sequel solely targets Republicans, conservatives, and White Supremacists to exploit them while holding up a mirror to the American public. The messiness and backward ideologies that are in power in this country right now are used as a device to allow Borat himself to grow as a character.
The film threads together an effective narrative that plays in the midst of all these different right-winged personalities he and his daughter are trolling. Because of the third-world treatment of women where they’re seen as servants for men, most of the narrative is attached to Borat’s misogynistic views towards women being challenged as he connects with his daughter. It’s weird seeing this bigot of a character who once idolized America being allowed to progress because of how awful the country is. It’s the well-deserved punch in the face that America deserves.
Needless to say, Cohen commits to his role as he usually does, so instead, I’m going to commend his new partner in crime Maria Bakalova, who plays Borat’s daughter Tutar. She delivers the same shocking confidence that Borat did in 2006. She is fucking hysterical and provides some of the best laughs in the film. She works perfectly with Cohen and they are a fantastic dynamic duo.
I’m not going to spoil anything — unlike EVERY OTHER CRITIC OUT THERE — but the climax of this movie that features politician/Trump’s BFF Rudy Giuliani has to be the most fucking incredible piece of cinema I’ve seen all year. It’s shocking, hysterical, uncomfortable, and downright the absolute best “gotcha” moment Cohen has done to date. Apologies to everyone who read spoilers because watching this climax completely blind had to be one of the biggest doses of serotonin since Trump got COVID. I had no choice but to stand up and applaud in front of my TV because, just like John Hammond in Jurassic Park, he did it. That crazy son of a bitch did it. I have to applaud Cohen for constantly risking his life, not only for the sake of entertainment but also as a means to show America how we’re living, and for that I say, ACADEMY AWARD!
The first Borat film was revolutionary, for it truly caught lightning in a bottle. After watching it for the first time ever last week, I was surprised by how the film maintains such a timeless factor. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm lacks that timelessness. Everything about this is designed to comment on the current state of America; it was entirely crafted in the last 10 months, so the film discusses everything leading up to the state of America as of right now, including the coronavirus. This movie might work best 50 years from now to describe what the fuck was going on in America in 2020.
Much like with Cohen’s previous project, Who Is America?, not all of the material works. There are some rough patches between the scripted moments and the non-scripted moments where Borat and Tutar are just interacting with regular people. That’s fine, but it doesn’t have the same hilarious impact as the original. While some of the awkward humor works, it doesn’t always get the “OMG” lightning-in-a-bottle reactions they were clearly aiming for. However, that finale really makes Borat Subsequent Moviefilm one of the year’s best comedies, bar fucking none. When it’s time for the film to tie everything together and conclude with a scripted epilogue, they really hit us where it hurts and we deserve it. It effectively shows that this supposed “most powerful, leading, progressive country in the world” has deviated into becoming more of a third-world country than the country this character originated from. And you know what? It’s a message that needs to be addressed.
