Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

 3.5/4

Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova

Rated R for Pervasive Strong Crude and Sexual Content, Graphic Nudity, and Language

"Borat" seemed to come out of nowhere.  Although it was one of three characters created by Sacha Baron Cohen for "Da Ali G Show," he was still a cult comic.  Definitely not mainstream (the film wouldn't have worked if he was).  When the film was unleashed in 2006, the buzz was rapturous.  He was an overnight sensation and the talk of town.  Everyone had to see it.  And did.  In fact, it was so popular that he retired the three characters that he created as he could no longer trick people.  Now, he has brought him back.

The success of Borat  generating laughs requires two things: shock value and surprise.  What made "Borat" such a smash is how far it was willing to go.  Raunchy humor and sociopolitical satire were not new territory for film at the time.  Far from it.  But by using a fictional "journalist," the film ripped open the prejudices and stupidity people have and exposed them as the fools they were.  The "innocence" of the Borat character allowed people to lower their guard and be skewered with merciless derision.

The problem with this is that we know Borat's MO.  We know that he is a fool with ridiculously backwards views.  We know that he is going to humiliate and be humiliated in equal measure.  Because we know this character, we can predict the punchline of the joke.  That's fatal to a comedy like this, which depends on surprises and breaking boundaries of taste and propriety.  Don't get me wrong.  This is still a very funny movie.  It's just...not as funny as you'd hope.

Sacha Baron Cohen seems to be aware of this, so he gives Borat someone to play off of, much like Azamov from the 2006 film.  That is his daughter Tutar, played by Maria Bakalova.  She fits right in with all the raunchy silliness and savage political satire.  More importantly, she shares Cohen's willingness to do anything for a laugh.  Special mention has to go to her "father/daughter dance" scene, which is definitely the grossest dance scene I've ever seen in a movie.

The story, such as it is, is very simple.  The horrific ways Borat (Cohen) has portrayed Kazakhstan has earned the ire of the government and now he faces life in a gulag.  He has the opportunity for redemption when Donald Trump takes office.  The Kazakh government seeks to curry favor with the new administration, so they send Borat to present Mike Pence with a trained chimp.  Unfortunately for Borat, his daughter Tutar has emerged as a stowaway, having eaten the gift.  The plan now is to have Tutar be given to Pence instead, but the freedom seen by American woman is giving her different ideas.

The original "Borat" was designed to unmask and roast bigotry of all kinds.  The sequel takes aim at the MAGA crowd.  Some people may not like that, but Cohen thrives on pushing all kinds of buttons.  Southern culture in general is torn apart (Tutar's impromptu speech to a group of conservative women had me howling), and a telling moment comes when Borat sings to a crowd of Trump supporters.  Apparently no one there was able to appreciate the irony of waving an American flag while singing about killing journalists and government officials.

There's no doubt that Cohen is playing with fire here, but that has never been his concern.  There is one scene where Borat goes to a synagogue dressed as an offensive Jewish caricature.  But the scene involves a Holocaust survivor pointing out the error of his ways with a sense of empathy that really touched me.  For the record, Cohen broke character after filming to tell the woman what he was doing.  Then there's the controversy with the Rudy Giuliani interview.  Having seen it, I can safely say that whatever embarrassment Giuliani may have felt is his own fault.  Drinking alcohol with a journalist and following her into a bedroom flies into the face of common sense, so he has no one to blame but himself.

Whenever people talk about Borat, they always discuss the faux-documentary approach, what is or is not real, the savageness of the satire, and how gross it is.  Not to mention its humor quotient.  What surprises me is how no one seems to notice just how good Sacha Baron Cohen is as a performer.  This is acting of a highest caliber.  Not only does he make a completely fatuous character believable, it requires considerable improvisational skills and commitment.  If there was one moment where the audience ever felt that the actor was winking at the audience or letting them in on the joke, the film would have collapsed.  That never happens, and that's because Cohen is such a gifted actor.

"Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" is like a joke you've heard once or twice before.  It's still funny, but not as funny as the first time you've heard it.  Realize, though, that I'm comparing this to one of the funniest movies ever made.  Not many movies can match up to it, and it's unfair to ask them to try.  Borat Sagdiyev's second trip to America may not be as funny or groundbreaking as his first, but it contains more than enough laughs to be worth the trip.