‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ A Hilarious, Shocking Return for Sacha Baron Cohen (FILM REVIEW)

Rating: A

Two questions pop immediately to mind following my screening of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. The first is how does Sacha Baron Cohen keep doing it? The popularity of his first cinematic outing as the hapless Kazakhstani journalist, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan would have seemingly ruined this character for life.

Cohen, the prankster behind the film and character, was nominated for an Academy Award for writing the first movie, in addition to winning a Golden Globe for his performance as Borat. In the 14 years since that film’s release, the character has become an inescapable meme. One can’t escape the internet without seeing a joke punctuated by, “Very nice!” or “My wiiiife!” or “High five!” This fact is addressed early on in the new film, which features scenes of Cohen as Borat running from fans excited to see the character back in action. Even with this popularity, however, somehow Borat still works as a conceit, which makes Cohen’s ability to cause ridiculous people to reveal themselves for who they are so effectively even more bizarre and absurd.

Which leads me to my second, perhaps more salient, question: What the actual fuck, Rudy?!

But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm plays out exactly as you’d expect a sequel to Borat to play out. Cohen, in disguise, goes around America to get absurd reactions out of anyone and everyone he meets. It’s sort of an extended Candid Camera bit that’s edited together with scripted moments to tie the film’s loose narrative together. This time around, the “disgraced journalist” is removed from his prison in Kazakhstan so that his can deliver a gift to American “Vice Premier Michael Pence.” After a mishap with the original gift, he’s ordered to make a gift of his daughter, Tutar (actress Maria Balakova), and so journeys to prepare her for her new husband.

Giving Borat an equal comedic partner is the biggest diversion from the original film and Balakova plays extremely well with Cohen. In a lot of ways, in fact, it feels as though Cohen is molding Balakova to pick up his reins and continue the Borat tradition because if Borat wasn’t compromised as a disguise before this movie, he certainly is now. She seems well suited for the task, thrusting herself into more than a few painfully uncomfortable positions of her own.

They’re a delicious team, diving deep into the seedy underbelly of American culture and giving us a first hand glimpse at how deplorable some people can actually be. They’re also both ridiculously funny, and together give us one of the most bitter, biting satires to hit the scene even as satire as in its throes of death.

Of course, by now, the biggest story is the compromising position former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani puts himself in during the film’s climax. News broke Wednesday afternoon about Giuliani appearing to fondle himself on hidden camera during an interview being held by Balakova, who portrays a 15-year-old girl for much of the movie but here is portraying a journalist for a right wing outlet. Let me tell you, no account of this scene can do it justice. It is a sickening, flabbergasting moment which will no doubt haunt Giuliani for the rest of his life, to say nothing of whatever else remains of his career.

He is, of course, denying what we can all see in the film, but the footage speaks for itself. It also speaks to what Cohen has perfected over the course of his 20-year career. It doesn’t take much to get people to reveal who they actually are, and most people are willing to offer that up freely. While the Giuliani scene is already infamous (even before the film’s release, which is truly impressive), the rest of the film doesn’t shy away from letting fools make fools of themselves either. It is, for better or worse, a perfect follow up to Borat’s first cinematic outing, and offers a hilariously uncomfortable night at the movies.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is available Friday, October 23 on Amazon Prime.

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