Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2020)
SHOULD I SEE IT?
YES
Sacha Baron Cohen’s legendary character, Borat, is back with another series of pranks and comedic situations tied directly to the political leanings of America right now.
Maria Bakalova, who portrays Tutar, Borat’s 15-year-old daughter, steals the show. She is a revelation and gives a fearless comedic performance alongside Cohen.
So, I mean…this may largely become remembered for one already infamous scene involving a former New York City mayor. Many will watch this, waiting to witness and judge that moment for themselves, and I mean…see it for yourselves.
NO
Your name is Rudolph William Louis Giuliani.
Borat is the very definition of a “Mileage May Vary” character. What was funny in 2006 is far more hit-or-miss in 2020, and the shock-and-awe of the initial Borat film is hard to capture again, when our entire lives are so public, shared, and open.
Unlike the first film, I cannot even fathom one person who supports President Trump’s Administration finding anything humorous about any of this. Republican and Conservative values and institutions are almost the exclusive focus on the barbs, jabs, and comedy found within the film.
OUR REVIEW
In 2006, Sacha Baron Cohen took his renegade comedy classic, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan to theaters and created a pop culture touchstone still referenced today. You know those friends who still shout “Verrry Niiiiceee!!!” when something good happens? Well, you can thank Cohen and his fictional Kazakhstan reporter, Borat Sagdiyev, for making that a thing.
Since Borat… was unleashed to the world and the faux-documentary earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay (let’s not forget), the world has shifted considerably. Our politics are more polarized and tribal than ever. Social media was in its infancy and Twitter was a mere few months old. People read newspapers. Smartphones were anything but. Click-wheel iPods full of music were slowly killing the CD experience. YouTube was barely even a thing. There was no Spotify. Neither were podcasts.
Point being, with the rather sudden arrival of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Cohen is no longer a hidden gem in comedy. He’s an A-list movie and television star whose variance between headline-making “gotcha!” prankster and serious film actor makes his ability to masquerade as Borat next to impossible. And yet, in 2020, and for 96 more minutes, he tries to catch lightning in a bottle again – betting that the chaotic movie we saw in 2006 can be replicated for a new audience in 2020.
With TiKTok, Facebook, Instagram, and SnapChat ubiquitous, and our entire lives digitized for quick and fast consumption, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm feels long at 96 minutes. More than a few moments fall short, and the persistence of ethnoreligious humor (largely, if not exclusively, at the expense of Jewish people) grows tiresome, if ever even funny at all.
Still, Cohen has somehow constructed another bonkers, go-for-broke film that will have lots and lots of people talking as it bypasses theaters and premieres on Amazon Prime, two weeks before the 2020 Presidential Election.
The premise is nonsensical, but here is a basic stab at it:
After the 2006 film, Borat embarrassed his country as his journalistic endeavors made Kazakhstan the laughingstock of the world. The Minister of Propaganda has tasked him with returning to America to make good with American President “McDonald Trump” (as Borat believes he is called). If he fails, he will be executed.
Borat is told to take Johnny the Monkey, a celebrity monkey who stars in pornographic films made with Kazakh women, and deliver him to “Vice Premiere Michael Pennis.” He believes Pennis (Vice-President Mike Pence) will be thrilled with the gift because he is reportedly such a ladies’ man, his wife (referenced as “Mother”), refuses to allow him to be in a room with any other women.
As he embarks on his mission, Borat learns he has a 15-year-old daughter named Tutar (Maria Bakalova) he knew nothing about. Happy leaving her behind in the cage she lives in, he lands in America only to discover Tutar has stowed away in Johnny the Monkey’s shipping crate. Seems Johnny has met an unfortunate demise, and now Borat has a dilemma on his hands.
Naturally, Tutar becomes the peace offering.
This sets in motion a random - sometimes shocking, sometimes not - series of vulgar and uncomfortable pranks, stunts, and fictionalized encounters which tie together a narrative of Borat coming to terms with being a father to a teenage daughter, feeling torn in protecting her or abandoning her, and Tutar developing her own voice as a woman with agency and value.
Be advised: Cohen’s Borat remains the very definition of a “mileage may vary” type of character. If you enjoy him – you will likely love seeing him hide Borat under a dizzying array of costumes, prosthetics and makeup (another Oscar nod looming, perhaps?), and beguiling his way into situations involving racist bakers, anti-abortion/pro-life doctors and counselors, gun enthusiasts, and members of the Three-Percenters militia – where Cohen recycles a bit from the first film where he, as a disguised Borat, sings a deplorable country song with anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Other moments soar, and you can likely say goodbye to any anonymity Bakalova had prior to the film’s release. Her performance is every bit as fearless and outlandish as Cohen’s, and the 24-year-old Bulgarian actor’s sense of timing, comedic reaction and response, and overall screen presence is what makes this film overachieve. Her scenes at a Republican Women’s conference and later, as a special guest with her father, at a Cotillion ball, will have people using those “crazy calculators” (i.e. smartphones) Borat refers to, and have them texting, tweeting, and telling their friends about the brazen audacity of what they Cohen and Bakalova are capable of orchestrating.
Now, to be fair, this is not going to play funny for everyone. You can already see that the far-right and Conservatives bear the brunt of nearly all the gags in this Subsequent Moviefilm. In 2006, I know several Conservatives who had a ball with Borat. I find it impossible to think that, in 2020, any of my Republican/Conservative friends will see much to laugh about here.
With that said, when Cohen hits, he does visceral damage. And that brings us to Rudy Giuliani.
You can Google search what Cohen’s team set up and executed, on camera, involving the former Mayor of New York City and current personal attorney to President Trump. There is a reason he went into damage control two days before the film’s release. There is also a reason why news outlets exploded with anger, confusion, and unsettling dismay at what Giuliani does in the film.
I will simply say this: It is hard to scream “Fake News” when everyone can clearly see what someone does, unprompted and unsolicited, while caught on camera.
Though wildly uneven and a bit long for what it becomes, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm… works very, very hard to shock its audience, succeeding about as often as it misses the mark. To Cohen’s credit, he remains a devilish provocateur. What he has pulled off in this sequel may lack the originality of his 2006 offering, but with a major discovery in Maria Bakalova matching him step-for-step, it is not hard to imagine we may find ourselves talking about Borat Subsequent Moviefilm for many years to come.
CAST & CREW
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova, Dani Popescu, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Pence.
Director: Jason Woliner
Written by: Peter Baynham. Sacha Baron Cohen. Jena Friedman, Anthony Hines, Lee Kern, Dan Mazer, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Swimer (screenplay); Anthony Hines, Nina Pedrad, and Dan Swimer (story); Nick Corirossi (additional writing).
Based on a character created by Sacha Baron Cohen for the film, “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
Release Date: October 23, 2020
Amazon Studios