Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

by Philip Price

Photo: Amazon Studios

Directed: Jason Woliner
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen & Maria Bakalova 
Rated: R
Runtime: 1 hour & 36 minutes

Fourteen years ago, Sacha Baron Cohen was largely introduced to the world via the titular Borat Sagdiyev. Borat - a man who by happenstance makes Americans look as idiotic as they perceive him to be - was born into a world and a country at a point in time (or maybe at a point in my life) where the world was maybe not less complicated, but certainly less chaotic. At that point in time, the revelations Borat came across in his "Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" were known, but not explicit. Did racism still exist? Sure, but it was mostly our grandpas who were halfway out the door anyway - or so we thought.

In “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” Cohen wears a Ku Klux Klan outfit into a Conservative conference and the most shocking part is how many people seemingly in attendance are also shocked by this. This also signals the main downfall of a decade and a half later ‘Borat’ sequel as hardly anything is genuinely shocking anymore. I mean, when the President of the United States has had an affair with a porn star the fact the former mayor of New York City is totally up for getting it on with a hot, young reporter during a global pandemic isn't exactly surprising. 

That doesn't mean Cohen's antics are no longer funny as I laughed plenty - the genuine investment in our hero's plight by his new-found quarantine friends is hysterical - and Cohen hasn't lost the ability to push all the wrong buttons in just the right context either. Some of the edge is also lost in the fact Cohen can no longer exist as the character of Borat as widely or as boldly as he could prior to 2006. In this regard, largely unknown Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova will come away as the one who gets most of the kudos as her anonymity and status as a young woman help the film to expose America’s deep-rooted sexism (get ready for a debutante dance for the ages) among other things (fake news!). And so, while “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” may not be as initially outrageous as its predecessor or even equally as funny it certainly feels more necessary and by virtue of that necessity, all the more urgent.

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.