Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Borat isn't exactly a comedy where you laugh from start to finish, but Sacha Baron Cohen breaks boundaries and does what probably no one else would dare to do, and for that alone I'll give it a generous rating. Towards the end the film ran out of breath, but a couple of scenes were legendary (the toilet scene with the baby, or the current covid-19 issue). I also liked the final twist, which was quite unexpected. Story****, Action>No, Humor****, Violence>No, Entertainment****, Music***, Visual***, Atmosphere**, Suspense*. 7/10. (10/27/2020)

In some ways, Borat has a much harder time than he did 14 years ago, because what was a marginal excess back then is normcore today. But Sasha can get tough, and even though he recycles essential jokes, they are still great and they still work even in partial improvisation. There are a few instant classics (invasion of the Republican congress, a menstrual dance, a synagogue, a concert and, above all, Rudi's incredible anal sex), and the introduction and conclusion have a wonderful cadence, and Maria Bakalova is a great side-chick, although the finished family storyline is definitely a weakness. For me, Borat remains one of the few completely free forms of satirical commentary on the present, in which the Kazakh redneck, along with a collection of highly misogynistic, anti-Semitic and racist views, acts as a gentle caress of the skin. The world has turned to shit, and people like Cohen protect what is left of common sense. (10/26/2020)

I definitely appreciate about half a dozen of the film’s truly funny and imaginative gags and scenes, but otherwise it's quite weak, especially compared to the excellent, first Borat. Confrontations with "unsuspecting" Americans (who are surprisingly resigned this time around and put up with everything) are unfortunately dull, sometimes giving the impression of artificial staging and especially the desperate need to involve them in a poorly directed, convulsive and unfortunately broken plot about the relationship between a father and his daughter. As long as Cohen is provoking people while wearing bizarre costumes, the film works, but as soon as the scripted actions take place, or if anyone else is on the screen, the film immediately falls off the rails. The film only has sporadic quality satire and is otherwise mostly a relatively standard comedy with borderline humor and plenty of dead spots. (11/02/2020)

I enjoyed the first Borat back in the day. It was my first encounter with Sacha Baron Cohen, and I roared with laughter at it because his ability to hide clever satire behind extremely vulgar jokes simply amused me. I'm all the more fascinated that in Borat 2 this is not only practically non-existent, but downright absent. Instead of more caustic savagery, Cohen made a pretty OK, if not actually very interesting, comedy about a Central Asian douchebag bonding with his daughter. It's not particularly interesting because Borat as such was never really a classic character and now Cohen would like me to approach him that way as a viewer. Only that I can't when there aren't even the foundations for something that would like to be a touching comedy and is largely a normal feature film. And then there are the Borat scenes. Michael Pence must have been very upset, and Robert Giuliani and his PR department must be having a hard time sleeping right now, but otherwise? Borat tries to shock, trick or fool a candy maker, a phone salesman, a printer and fax machine salesman and a few well-meaning (if a bit dim) rednecks, and they all more or less don't care. And me too, actually. As a Borat comedy, it's practically all over the place, and if I accept the idea that Cohen actually wanted to make a slightly different film with a slightly different theme, I have to wonder why the hell he did it with Borat in to begin with. (10/26/2020)

The beginning and ending in Kazakhstan are great, but everything in between is rubbish that touches on simmering social issues, but through an unimaginative plot structure and silly, unfunny humor. And it seems that no one even attempted to employ the “hidden camera” effect that made the original Borat great. (10/27/2020)