Movie Review - Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm * (if you wear a MAGA cap and no mask); ****½ (most of the rest) (R). 14 years ago, British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen bestowed upon us a crude and hilarious social satire, Borat, pretending to be a bumbling journalist from Kazakhstan documenting American culture. He imposed himself upon unsuspecting citizens pushing the bounds of taste in oh so many ways. His character was reportedly arrested over 100 times as he traveled the country offending the locals wherever he went. This sequel manages to up the ante, focusing much more on current politics than social norms, smack dab in the middle of our heated election campaign and pandemic.

As you can tell from the split ratings above, Borat targets the Trump side more than the left, and does so with gusto. Part of that comes from the premise. Since the first film made his country look so bad, he's spent the intervening years sentenced to hard labor. Now the Premier wants to send him back here to suck up to President Trump and his circle of autocratic pals (Putin, Kim, etc.) by presenting an official state gift. Borat's teen daughter (Maria Bakalova) wants to go along and hides in a shipping crate. When a problem arises with the gift, Borat desperately whips up Plan B, in which his daughter becomes the gift ... to Mike Pence. The rest of the film is about their journey, primarily sprucing her up for the occasion.

I'm not including any specifics, because the shock value of the proceedings is far more effective if you don't know what's coming. Bakalova is nothing short of brilliant in the dimension she adds to the cast and storyline compared to the first. For the grossest bits, note that her character is 15, but the actress is in her mid-twenties, thereby "legitimizing" some of her scenes. Everyone will be offended by some part(s) of the film. (Jewish viewers should remind themselves that Borat's blatant antisemitism is coming from a Jewish comic.) Most of us from all demographics may also experience several bouts of stomach cramps from laughing so hard.

Kudos to Cohen for the reckless courage needed to lampoon so much about our country at a time of such fierce, and periodically violent, divisions. Even more amazing is the number of people they convinced to sign releases to appear after being mocked. Very few faces are blurred. As unlikely as it seems for this type of movie, Bakalova should be considered for Supporting Actress awards in her progression from naive bumpkin to something completely different. (On Amazon Prime as of 10/23/20)