ReelBob: ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ ★★★½
By Bob Bloom
Provocateur comedian Sasha Baron Cohen returns with his Borat persona to cast another funny and glaring spotlight on the foibles of America and Americans in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” which premieres Friday (Oct. 23) on Amazon Prime.
When Cohen’s first “Borat” movie was released in 2006, many moviegoers were taken aback by his misogyny, anti-Semitism and racism. Today, as “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” starkly displays, America has caught up with this Kazakh “journalist.”
The sequel opens with Borat breaking rocks in a gulag prison for bringing shame on his nation because of his first movie.
He is paroled and assigned to return to United States to present a gift to its leader, whom Borat calls McDonald Trump, to get his nation back in America’s good graces.
Things go wrong when Borat’s 15-year-old daughter, Tutar, whom he never knew existed, stows away in the crate carrying the gift for Trump, thus upending his plans. His new option to keep from returning home for execution, is in to present his daughter as a gift to “America’s Ladies Man,” “Vice Premier Michael Pence.”
The movie is basically comprised of a series of sketches as Cohen’s Borat, wearing a series of disguises, interacts with various U.S. residents and gets their take on Democrats, coronavirus, women, sex, political correctness and other topics.
And, yes, at times the movie is uncomfortable and makes you squirm. But it also makes you laugh loudly.
Cohen, who cowrote the script with a group of collaborators, knows just where to stick the needle into the American psyche and push the buttons that deflate the smugness about our so-called superiority.
Cohen’s Borat is a verbal loose cannon innocently spewing non-politically correct observations with enthusiasm and childlike glee as he tries to discern and fit into the American way of life.
He creates a character that is simultaneously lovable and distasteful and doing so in a buffoonish manner that just touches on being offensive.
Sharing Cohen’s take-no-prisoners attitude is Maria Bakalova as Tutar. She is as fearless as Cohen, doing whatever is necessary to make those they meet — mostly right-leaning conservatives — and us cringe at their antics, most of which involve comments and explanations about bodily functions and sexual practices.
Yet, the movie also displays American generosity, especially during the sequence in which Borat is stranded and taken in by a couple of Qanon followers during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.
Borat later is a hit at a far-right rally where he sings an anti-Obama ballad his friends composed.
At its core, though, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” is a story about discovering new attitudes and realizing that not everything the State teaches should be taken as gospel.
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” is a feature with no middle ground. Fans of Cohen most likely will embrace it, while more traditional and, yes, conservative, filmgoers will most likely despise the film and Cohen.
And that is probably because, through Borat, Cohen is holding up a mirror to our nation — and many people will not like what they see.
I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.
BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM
3½ stars out of 4
(R), nudity, crude sexual content, language