Borat Subsequent Moviefilm 4 ½ stars
It’s been fourteen years since that odd-looking foreign journalist, Borat Sagdiyev invaded America and made a mockery of American values in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Now he has returned after spending years in a Kazakhstan prison and is sent on a mission to deliver a wise monkey to a prominent American politician in order to restore the glorious image of his native country. He arrives in America, only instead of the monkey his teenage daughter Tutar has stowed away, so the mission is changed to delivering the sexy girl to Vice President Mike Pence! The film by master funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen takes a hard look at America under Trump, Coronavirus and all and finds plenty for us to laugh at. This includes getting a cake decorator to write “Jews will not replace us” on a cake, getting a makeup stylist to recommend a skin shade to suit a racist family and getting a plastic surgeon to describe a Jewish nose, all without hesitation. The comedy is mainly done by filming people in real life situations without the knowledge that it is all part of a satirical comedic movie, just like was done in 2006. The targets of the film are mainly right leaning or hard right people who are the type that support Trump. Since most of the film takes place in Texas, Oklahoma and Georgia it wasn’t hard to find these folks. (Romania was a stand in for Kazakhstan.) In one scene Borat goes to an alt right rally and appears on stage where he sings a song about physically attacking President Obama getting cheering approval from the audience. The crowning achievement of the movie comes near the end when somehow he gets Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney to agree to a fake interview with Tutar (who calls herself Sandra Jessica Parker). The unsuspecting Giuliani ends up in a hotel room with the girl with his pants unbuttoned and his hand reaching in his pants! I believe everyone has heard of the scene by now and something about there being a lawsuit over it. The amazing thing is how Cohen hasn’t been beaten up during the making of the movie. Sasha Baron Cohen is known for his outspoken views against racism, religious bigotry and sexism. He uses this latest film as a biting satirical message against those that hold such beliefs and does it in hilarious fashion. The viewer should be warned that there is abundant use of crude scenes and graphic language throughout the film, so you are warned.