A One Mann’s Movies review of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2020).
Bob the Movie Man’s Rating:
Certification:
US: R. UK: 15.
I’m late to the game on watching this one, since the illustrious Mrs Movie Man absolutely hates “Borat”: she has a compulsive aversion to squirming at other people’s idiocy. So, if you’ve seen this one, you’ll understand why.
Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) in Trump disguise presents his “gift” to Mike Pence. (Source: nytimes.com)
Borat is back.
Kazakh news-hound Borat Margaret Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen) is in trouble with his country’s rulers after his first ‘moviefilm’ brought shame and disrepute to the country. Under threat of death he is sent on a mission to deliver Johnny – a monkey, but the most popular celebrity in Kazakhstan – as a gift to Donald Trump.
All of this gets толығымен трахает when Johnny meets an untimely end during transportation. Fortunately all is not lost, since Borat’s daughter Tutar (Maria Bakalova) has smuggled herself into the States. Borat determines to offer Tutar as a gift to US VP Mike Pence. But first, she must be made less feral and more acceptable to US society.
Legging it from Giuliani’s security. It is pretty worrying that they were allowed to get that close to him in the first place. (Source: Amazon Studios).
Same formula; Less incognito.
Baron Cohen has made his primary career out of spoofing both celebrities and common-or-garden bigots, giving them the rope with which to hang themselves with their outrageous views. This is what he did so successfully in the first Borat film in 2006. An issue now is that, since that first movie made Borat such a pop icon, his appearance on the street in his usual garb generates unwelcome attention. As such he adopts a variety of different disguises to get closer to his “victims”.
Helpfully, his “daughter” (a brilliant Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova) is an unknown face, and takes some of this strain on her own shoulders.
Not quite as incognito as he would like. (Source: Amazon Studios).
Borat goes to the line (hilariously), but then crosses it.
So, I’m in no way a prude. And the antics in here generated a half dozen chuckles and a few genuine belly laughs. But some of the gags went just too far for me, and strayed into “genuinely uncomfortable” territory. A “moonblood” dance is just plain gross. And, notwithstanding Baron Cohen’s Jewish roots, a gag involving the holocaust treads into territory that I don’t think should be remotely approached for the purposes of comedy.
Many of the (allegedly) unaware stars manage to crucify themselves – and presumably, in some cases, their careers – by coming out with the most appalling commentary that often beggars belief. A doctor – Charles Wallace – would surely be struck off if in the UK. Others just appear gullible and/or easily led. Rudy Giuliani‘s behaviour – although ambiguous – is at the very least lewdly suspicious. You just wish that the team would have let the action proceed a bit longer.
Was it as the Four Seasons? Either way it was Total Piss-taking. Tutar interviewing a touchy-feely Rudy Giuliani. (Source: Amazon Studios).
Some rays of hope for mankind.
As a saving grace, amongst all the crass and bigoted behaviour, there are individuals that shine out as warm and generous individuals. One is holocaust survivor Dim Evans, who sadly died earlier this year, holding out a hand of friendship to Borat when he appears in a synagogue obscenely and ridiculously dressed as a jew.
But the real star of the show is unemployed ‘babysitter’ Jeanise Jones who is genuinely taken in by the plight of Tutar. The warmth, concern and compassion she shows is genuinely heart-warming. The best news to come out of the whole movie is that a GoFundMe page, astutely created by her pastor, has so far raised more than $180,000 to help her out of poverty. This is on top of the $100,000 that Sacha Baron Cohen has donated to her Oklahoma City community.
Jeanise Jones: a lady with a heart of gold. (Source: Facebook).
An America that is almost no longer lampoonable.
2020 has been a bizarre year in general, but no more so than with the election shenanigans in the US. When you have Rudy Giuliani hosting news conferences from The Four Seasons Total Landscaping car park, sandwiched between a crematorium and a sex shop, and Donald “CAPS LOCK” Trump defiantly Tweeting like a petulant child, it’s really difficult for any comedy film to top that.
‘Borat 2’ gives it a go. And you can only be impressed by the cojones on Sacha Baron Cohen. But ultimately this outing ends up feeling overly-scripted and ‘forced’ compared to the original. Borat fans will no doubt love it. I tolerated it, and was intermittently entertained. But I would have preferred more of the clever hilarious bits and less of the cringingly crude and offensive stuff.
Oh… and if you’re ever on “Pointless” and need a pointless Tom Hanks movie… don’t forget this one!
Trailer:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvPTCvUnNQA.
