‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ Review: Sacha Baron Cohen And On-Screen Daughter Take on Trump

Depending on your tolerance for cringe comedy, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is either your new favorite movie or your new biggest annoyance. If you subscribe to Sacha Baron Cohen‘s view that uncomfortable situations are inherently hilarious, you’ll find plenty to enjoy in his new film. If you’re hoping for thoughtful insight on sexism, anti-Semitism, Donald Trump, and the current political moment, you may be disappointed.

Borat 2—officially titled Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, coming to Amazon Prime Video this Friday—once again finds Cohen embodying the character he created over 20 years ago for the Da Ali G Show. These days, Kazakh reporter Borat Sagdiyev is far too famous to interview clueless Americans the way he did in the hit 2006 comedy, Borat. As soon as he goes out with his mustache and gray suit, he’s chased down the street by people who want high fives, shouting “Very nice!” So Cohen, still using the Borat voice, dons a variety of “American” disguises—from sweaters to jean jackets to fat suits—in his filmed interactions with real people, who presumably don’t realize they are in a Borat subsequent moviefilm.

Directed by Jason Woliner, with eight people credited to the screenplay (Cohen, Peter Baynham, Jena Friedman, Anthony Hines, Lee Kern, Dan Mazer, Erica Rivinoja, and Dan Swimer) Borat 2 follows more of a plot than the first film. Borat, now a disgrace to his home country and a prisoner, is sent back to the U.S. on a mission to deliver a gift to the U.S. Vice President, as a sign of respect. At first, that gift is “Johnny the Monkey, Kazakhstan’s minister of culture and No. 1 porno star.” But when Borat’s 15-year-old daughter Tutar (played by Bulgarian actor Maria Bakalova) stows away in the monkey’s shipping crate and eats him, Borat decides his daughter will make a suitable gift for Mike Pence—after he gives her appearance and attitude a makeover.

As with the first film, the plot matters less than the Borat shenanigans, of which there are many. Borat and his daughter shock attendees of a staged cotillion. They prank a pastor at an anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy center,” who doesn’t realize the “baby” in Tutar’s stomach is a plastic figurine from a cupcake. When Cohen successfully sneaks into the Conservative Political Action Conference and interrupts Pence’s speech, it’s merely the midpoint. When the pandemic hits, he goes on to live—in character—with Republican conspiracy theorists for five days in lockdown. And the grand finale is an interview with a top Trump advisor, whose behavior may shock even the staunchest of his supporters.

If you loved the first Borat, you will love Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. There are plenty of references to the jokes every high school boy was quoting in 2006 (“My wife!”), and Cohen recaptures the outrageous spirit with bigger and bolder pranks. There are parts that are uproariously funny, worthy of a viral YouTube or TikTok clip, and maybe that’s all you need to call your comedy a success. By teaming up with Bakalova, he does manage to find a fun, fresh take, and the young Bulgarian actor gives Cohen a run for his money with her impressive ability to stay in character in demeaning situations.

But you also get the sense that Cohen feels his film has something profound to say about this current political moment (hence why he rushed to release the film before the election). On that front, I’m not so sure he achieved his goal. Borat is “exposing” sexism, racism, anti-Semitism, and more in the era of Trump, but we knew those things existed already. As with his other films, Cohen doesn’t offer any thoughts beyond pointing out how messed up these people are, and inviting you to laugh both at and with them. To be frank, I find it more depressing than funny. Perhaps it was easier to laugh in 2006, when it didn’t feel like the walls were closing in on democracy. Or maybe if we’d laughed a little less then, we wouldn’t be in this situation now. The film ends with a tag—”Now vote, or you will be execute”—but even with that call to action, this time around, the laughs feel hollow. For fans of the character, Borat 2 is very nice; but nice doesn’t quite cut it in the mean world of 2020.

Watch Borat Subsequent Moviefilm on Amazon Prime