A lot has changed since 2006; for us, for Sacha Baron Cohen and, it seems, for Borat too. Mediums have changed, as well as Cohen’s notoriety and the overall world we live in. To put it plainly, many of the outspoken buffoons that Borat would interview privately in certain arenas are now in political positions. But Sacha Baron Cohen has almost outdone himself this time, pairing his usual prank antics with hilarious satire attacking the current affronts of politics and the opinions of the time. In many ways, Borat 2 is the film we need right now, but it’s also a hilarious gag-fest that revels in dark humour and extended slapstick sequences.

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The film is ultimately a two-headed beast, consisting simultaneously of a scripted comedy with a pretty heavy duty plot and a string of improvised pseudo-prank based sketches. Cohen has great capability, shown in this movie, but so do his director Jason Wolliner and his group of writers consisting of over 12 names, most of which immensely talented comedic writers. The film will be talked most about (and rightly so) for the improvised sketches, which really are just sensational pieces of comedic performance. From Cohen, and also from the exceptional Maria Bakalova, as Borat’s daughter Tutar Sagdiyev. Bakalova is just as wonderful and funny as Cohen and never feels like a distraction or irrelevant sidebar to the Borat plot. But it is these sketches that also lead to some of the most touching featured moments, especially a candid scene with Judith Dim Evans, a Jewish women who quashes Borat’s hilarious ridiculous anti-Semitism. The film is rightly dedicated to Evans, who unfortunately passed soon after filming. It is this scene that feels to be the most specific choice on the creative team’s part. Whilst many may point to the outrageous Giuliani sequence to be the centrepiece of the film, I would say that that feels moreso at home in the first film. This sequel is going for something else entirely. 

The other head to this beast is the scripted factor, which pulls the film along its way with a plotline focussing completely absurdly upon the nation of Kazakhstan gifting first a monkey, then a child bride to first Mike Pence, then Rudy Giuliani. This plot is ingeniously interwoven throughout the film and leads the film to have a great pace about it and never just feel like a series of disjointed sketches, as these kind of films so often do. However, there is also the weirder element this time with Borat having to disguise himself due to everybody knowing who he is, and hence knowing that he is just a man in a wig doing a funny voice. Although Cohen's multi-layered performance in these moments is yet another example of his stellar craft, I just feel like, for me, it was too many times removed from the original idea that made the first film funny so it was difficult to feel completely attached to the comedy taking place. 

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The film is a good fifteen minutes longer than its original outing and it does feel it. A few sequences just don’t land comedically and although they still garner a few chuckles, a few long minutes go by before a hearty laugh comes about. This is the film’s biggest disadvantage, along with some really terrible CGI in the final sequences. This was clearly down to COVID, as the cast most likely couldn’t get to Kazakhstan in the current climate, so although it’s understandable, it still detracts from the overall film. It’s hard to say how much of the overall plotline and framing device was devised before the outbreak; however, the ultimate COVID-based material in the film felt very funny and very well conceived, as well as naturally being very timely. In that same vein, it’s hard to say how well the film will age, with it being such a zeitgeist of 2020, but if nothing else it will always work as a timelessly funny look at a year where we all had the genuine thought from time to time that the world may very well come to its end. Jesus, it’s a mad world. Although the politics of the film do sometimes seem to lead to some unrealistic motivation and development for the character of Borat, it does feel that this is where the film wanted to place its flag and I have no problem with that. After all, the world needs a little humour and who doesn’t want to poke fun at some of those f*cking idiots. Pardon my French.

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A spectacularly funny and downright outrageous 7/10 return to form for Cohen on film. The film does not have the overall quality or evenness of Bruno or the first Borat, but does on multiple occasions replicate the highest highs of the two films. The film simultaneously shares precious DNA with its predecessor, whilst also sharing the core of Cohen’s work: a pivotal mission to ridicule and mock the idiots of the world, whilst enlightening us to the horrifically frequent horrors of the world. However, with this sequel, this mission feels more urgent than ever, but thankfully it never gets in the way of a ton of great gags. A very funny, very clever and repeatedly surprisingly heart-warming film.

P.S. Despite the undoubted scheduling problems that would undoubtedly occur from such a thing, in the current pandemic climate, I think it’s fair to say that I would have just preferred another series of Who is America?. So brilliant, so clever and so damn funny. Watch Borat 2 for sure, but do yourself a favour and return to (or watch for the first time) Cohen’s exceptional TV show. A show that for me was leaps and bounds above most TV comedy of the current age, and is the crown of Cohen’s recent comedic career.

-Thomas Carruthers