“Borat 2” is 2 funny, a moviefilm not to skip
By Nori Quist, Staff Writer
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” hit Amazon Prime Video on Oct. 23. In this much-awaited sequel to “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”, Sacha Baron Cohen returns as Kazakhstan's number four journalist to shed light on American politics and to deliver his daughter, Tutar, as a present to the United States’ “most famous ladies’ man”, Mike Pence.
The plot itself is jumbled and illogical, serving mostly as a vessel for a series of jokes and pranks, but it does have its good points. The character arc takes Tutar and Borat on a journey from over-the-top sexism to grossly misinterpreted feminism. It has a few heartwarming moments of father-daughter bonding, but not enough to make up for various objectively disgusting scenes. “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” is definitely a moviefilm to avoid watching with parents or younger siblings. However, it is not necessarily one to avoid watching altogether.
As one of the relatively few new movies, as well as one of the first films to have been shot during lockdown, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” fills a niche yet unoccupied by any other moviefilms. It addresses COVID-19 and current political unrest from a place of humor, frequently poking fun at Republican viewpoints. This makes it the perfect movie for Samo students, a group of mostly left-leaning young people.
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm'' ties everything together with its all-star cast, which consists of brilliant newcomer Maria Bakalova as Tutar, hilarious character actor Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat and the best and worst of humanity as unsuspecting straight men. Two of Borat’s most memorable prankees in this movie are the former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and Jeanise Jones, Tutar’s good-hearted babysitter and a main driver of character development.
In one of the more well-known scenes of the movie, Giuliani controversially sticks his hands down his pants during an interview with Tutar. This morally ambiguous moment is cut short when Borat runs in with a barrage of well-timed jokes. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Jones spends a good portion of the movie trying to sway Tutar and Borat away from their wildly sexist beliefs in a genuinely sweet and understanding way. These contrasting scenes, among many other ethical highs and lows, perfectly balance each other out, providing a sense of the struggle between good and evil through characters who don’t ever meet in the film.
Those who were actually acting did so superbly. Bakalova often upstaged Baron Cohen as Tutar and she played well across other people too, pulling off a few of her own pranks in classic Borat style. Baron Cohen, who also utilizes political humor as historical figure Abbie Hoffman in the new Netflix film, “The Trial of the Chicago 7” does so masterfully in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”, working a few serious messages into what is mostly a dirty comedy.
Those looking for a good laugh and fans of “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” should be sure to watch “Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm”, but preferably not as a family feature.