Movie Review - Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Sacha Baron Cohen returns as the titular character, Borat Sagdiyev. He reprises his role from Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan or just Borat (2006). It was a major hit nearly 15 years ago. It made a lot of money at the box office. It also won a Golden Globe Award for Cohen and got nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The reason it wasn't nominated for original screenplay is because the character of Borat comes from Cohen's TV series, Da Ali G Show (2000). Borat is a news reporter from Kazakhstan, formerly of the Soviet Union. When he comes to the United States, he can seem very boorish. Yet, many times, he's very polite and very nonchalantly and almost innocuously delivers very sexist and very antisemitic comments and attitudes.

The film is set up with Cohen doing his scenes opposite real-life people that Borat interviews. Cohen as Borat would improvise his lines while in scenes with these real-life people. In the scenes, he throws out sexist and antisemitic comments in order to see the reactions of the real-life people. Often, the humor and jokes lie in how offensive or provocative Cohen can be in the presence of real-life people. Essentially though, Cohen is pulling pranks and trying to fool people. Cohen is from England and achieved success there, but when he did his film in 2006, most Americans had no clue who he was. Now, in 2020, a larger chunk of people, not only in the USA but all over the world, recognize who he is or at least that character. Therefore, it's questionable how many scenes here are with people who are truly being fooled but just playing along. Given that the reactions aren't that shocking, those so-called pranks aren't all that funny in terms of the reactions that are garnered. People probably feel awkward or confused, which don't generate much laughs.

Maria Bakalova co-stars as Tutar Sagdiyev, the daughter to Borat. She accompanies her father on his trip in this film to the United States. She idolizes her father but she also idolizes Melania Trump, the wife to President Donald Trump. She looks up to Melania as if she's a princess. In fact, she watches a TV program that depicts Melania as a Disney princess in a scenario akin to Beauty and the Beast (1991). That bit and that depiction is funnier than a lot of the so-called, unscripted moments, involving Borat and real-life people, which gives an example of how clever the writing of this film is and that there's more happening here than just glorified pranks on high-ranking people in government or just pranks on regular people.

The premise is that in order to impress the Trump administration, Borat must give his teenage daughter who is only 15 to someone in the Trump administration, someone high-ranking. Along the way, Borat and Tutar interview people who live in the South or in the so-called red states in the United States. They interview people who are likely Republican voters, if not Trump supporters. When Borat and Tutar engage with these people, their ruses are meant to expose the ridiculousness, if outright hurtful policies of the Trump administration. Cohen is in essence trying to satirize those policies. Unfortunately, the problem here is akin to the problem that HBO's Veep experienced, following Trump's election. Trump is shameless and has inured people to shocking and offensive things by constantly saying and doing shocking and offensive things, mostly by Twitter. Therefore, it's difficult to use satire because it's difficult to come up with even more shocking and offensive things that can top the shocking and offensive things Trump has already said and done.

For example, Cohen tries to do a bit involving putting kids in cages, which is obviously a joke or gag about Trump's immigration policy on the southern border when children were separated from their parents and put in cages. In the bit, Borat tries to buy a cage for his kid, Tutar. They go to a real, farm equipment store. The bit falls flat because putting a kid in a cage isn't shocking to Republican voters or people on the political right because they've been mired in it for years and yet Republican support for Trump continues to remain steady, if not still high. Therefore, the bit doesn't land as effectively, so after a while, I began to question the purpose of the pranks and Cohen's gags with real-life people.

Cohen seemed to want to make this mockumentary in the truest sense. Director Jason Woliner (Nathan For You and Parks and Recreation) does a good job of capturing these moments in a steady fashion. It doesn't feel as frenetic as the 2006 film, as perhaps run-and-gun. Larry Charles directed the 2006 film and Charles is known for his work on things like Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Neither of those are mockumentaries, but Curb Your Enthusiasm was initially conceived as one and did incorporate improvisation by actual actors. It made me wonder, if this film would've been better, if it also incorporated actors for those so-called pranks or bits, instead of real people. I say so because the scenes between Cohen and Bakalova work better than the ones involving real people. For example, the scene where Borat and Tutar argue about Facebook at the end of the second act is funnier than most of what comes before.

The only exception is a scene in the back half of the film where Borat infiltrates a March for Our Rights rally in Washington state. The rally was in protest to the stay-at-home or lockdown orders from various state governments after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to that, Borat quarantines with who are revealed to be QAnon members. The contrast that Cohen shows between Borat's crazy beliefs and theirs was probably the most effective bit with real-life people that exists in the film. Yet, some have questioned how staged that scene was. It was the only time I was really uneased, other than a bit where Borat joyously celebrates the Holocaust being a real thing.

As a story about a father and daughter, the film works really well. I wish the film had focused more on that. The stunts or pranks on real people just fell flat for me, even the more examined gag against Rudy Guiliani. Guiliani puts himself into a compromising position with an alleged underage girl in a hotel room where there is alcohol. Again, before Trump was even elected, he was exposed as having paid off a porn star after cheating on his third wife and he was exposed on tape as saying he grabs women by their private parts, which is technically sexual assault, so why would this Guiliani scene be any more shocking or eye-opening about what kind of things the people in this administration support?

Nevertheless, Cohen does manage to end this film and wrap everything up in a rather brilliant way. For any fans of Borat or Cohen as a comedian or comedic writer, it's worth checking out this film simply for that ending. Cohen is funny and he's smart, and the ending to this film proves that immensely.

Rated R for strong crude sexual content, graphic nudity and language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 36 mins.

Available on Amazon Prime.