Film Review: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

I’m not sure how folks younger than me know, but I can recall just how big the original Borat was. It was 2006, I was 13, which I suppose was the perfect age for Sacha Baron Cohen’s particular brand of juvenile humor. The accent was everywhere, kids were repeating phrases like “very nice,” and “my wife” to one another. And while I’m not entirely convinced that the film’s exposure of American’s ugly underbelly made much of a difference, it did become clear that this wasn’t your average comedy hit. So, it’s interesting to see them try to follow up not just as a comedy sequel, but as a cultural phenomenon.

The general narrative setup this time around has Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) being punished for not making benefit glorious Kazakhstan, and instead making a laughing stock of the country following the success of the first film. However, the president of Kazakhstan decides to bring him out of the gulag to send him on a mission to deliver a gift Vice President Mike Pence, which is at first intended to be a monkey named Johnny, who also happens to be Kazakhstan’s most famous porn star. Naturally, things don’t go as planned, especially as he finds out his daughter, Tutar (Maria Bakalova), apparently joined Johnny in his crate, and ate him.

Obviously, it’s impossible to expect lightning to strike twice here. Even for Sacha Baron Cohen, none of his projects following the first film resonated quite as much. I wasn’t super into Brüno, nor some of his more straightforward comedy movies like The Dictator or Grimsby, even if I liked certain moments. His Showtime program, Who Is America?, is similarly a mixed bag, with a sprinkle of genius in the midst of tired gags. And it seems like Cohen, his numerous co-writers, and director, Jason Woliner, knew they had to try different things.

The film addresses early on that people are likely to recognize Borat, so he has to take on more disguises. I also get the feeling that the filmmakers aren’t as concerned with whether certain sequences feel staged or not. Some of the early moments where Borat attempts to settle back into life in America don’t quite have that spontaneous energy that other sequences that are obviously not staged have. It makes for a bit of a clunky start, but it eventually settles on a groove that is significantly improves as we get more and more of Tutar involved in the hijinks.

I’d rather not spend much of the review just talking about what parts I found funny because I’d rather just let you experience those moments for yourself. What I will say is the that the film is very funny, perhaps more than I would have expected, even if it lacks a lot of the shock factor of the first. Whenever it relies on cringe, awkward situations, and all the gags that involve Borat’s heightened misogyny and anti-Semitism are some of the funniest moments in the film. But what did take me by surprise was how sweet the film ended up being as it explores the relationship between Borat and Tutar.

Ever since the film was announced, there has been this conversation going around about whether or not we needed a new Borat. After all, living in America in the past four years, it’s like the whole country has already turned into a crass parody of itself, and all the ugliness that has mostly been under the surface has come out in the open. As much as the film explores the alt-right, Qanon, the spread of fake news and conspiracy theories on Facebook, it can only ever truly scratch the surface of all the things we’ve had to deal with in this current administration in power.

That said, I still found Borat Subsequent Moviefilm very funny, and enough to excuse the fact that its not nearly as powerful as the first. And arguably, for many Black people, POC, and anyone in the LGBTQ community, none of the revelations and exposures in that first film were much of a shock either. However, Cohen and everyone else involved clearly have a strong grasp of the character, and how he can play into an ever-evolving socio-political landscape, and the work here does pay off. Maria Bakalova steals the show, delivering a brilliant and committed performance that often led to some of the funnier moments in the film, especially its big showstopper of a climax involving Rudy Giuliani, who basically places the final nail on the coffin on whatever legacy he hasn’t already tarnished. I wouldn’t say this is a better film than the first, which I think is safe to call a bonafide classic at this point, but I think it makes a strong case for the return of a great character, and it was a trip that was well worth my time.

 

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.