Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Starring Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova, Dani Popescu, Rudy Guiliani
Directed by Jason Wolinar
I think I'm one of the few people who didn't find 2006's "Borat" funny, finding myself groaning more than giggling, although I did have respect for Sacha Baron Cohen's ability to really make a rube out of unwitting participants who somehow thought his idiotic facade as a news reporter from Kazakhstan was real. Fourteen years later, he dons his ridiculous persona once again to shed light on America's faults, this time focusing on the misogyny of women and the politicization of America itself that's threatened to tear the country apart - all done for the sake of laughs.
Fourteen years after his film ridiculed his great nation, Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) is released from his Kazakhstan prison by Premier Nursultan Nazarbayev (Dani Popescu) with a mission - to make Kazakhstan great again by traveling to America and offering their prized monkey to the new Vice Premier, Mike Pence, who is helping make America great again with the help of the new Premier McDonald Trump. Before he leaves he learns he has a teenage daughter named Tutar (Maria Bakalova), who lives in a prison-like shed in his backyard, and wants to go with him, but isn't allowed because she's a female. Upon arriving in America, Borat discovers Tutar had stowed away with the monkey, and decides to offer her to Pence instead to re-vitalize Kazakhstan - but first he has to make her more beautiful and Americanized.
Once again, Sacha Baron Cohen's one-trick pony tries to gallop through a 95 minute runtime, and sometimes his jokes do succeed in making me giggle slightly, but more often than not I was just staring dumbfounded at the screen. Cohen is smart enough to realize that this time around, he's recognized (as shown by one of the few hilarious bits when he's continually chased down the street by people shouting his name), and takes a backseat to Maria Bakalova's Tutar, who actually is somewhat endearing and funny, but even her jokes begin to fall flat as they're repeated ad-nausea.
What continues to amaze me is how Cohen is able to con ordinary citizens into believing the most extraordinary things. They go to a Christian health center after Tutar accidentally swallows a plastic baby, and convince the pastor that the baby was put in her by her father, and doesn't bat an eye. There's even more ridiculous cons the two pull off, which again astonishes me as to how the people don't see what's happening. Ultimately, this all culminates in a cringe-worthy "interview" Tutar has with Rudy Giuliani, resulting in a real controversy that's shocking, revolting, and unsettling in all the wrong ways - but that's traditional Borat, so I guess it works for him.
What the film offers on the down-low is a heartfelt family rekindling story as could only be told through Cohen's unique lens. At the start of the film, Borat doesn't even know he has a daughter, yet she's been living in his barn since she was born, in a cage (a not-so-subtle jab at the American immigrant camps). Women in Kazakhstan are seen as less than human, who can't do anything apart from a man, and Borat treats her with disgust. Yet as their adventures in America continue, the two begin to bond and grow closer as both realize that there's worth in womanhood more than just to be sexualized beings, and becomes surprisingly heartwarming.
Returning again to shed light on the darker side of American society, "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" stretches its one-trick pony comedy act to a feature length film, hitting some jokes out of the park but more often than not just making them cringe-worthy and uncomfortable.
The Score: C-
Comments
Post a Comment