"Borat 2" Review - No High Fives To Society

In a time when we all know about a film coming out maybe two years in advance, I must admit it was a shocker to me when I first saw the trailer for another Borat movie a few weeks before release. The idea that Sasha Baron Cohen can bring back such an iconic character for another round so seamlessly without a peep from fans or the media is quite impressive.

We all remember our faces when we saw the first Borat. I can tell you most of the time, my jaw was on the floor from disgust, whether it was seeing how awful a good chunk of the USA was, or just out of pure disgust from a few graphic scenes. Borat was “VERY NICE” because it showcased the stupidity of America from someone that simply held up a mirror to America’s face. Something like this would’ve worked much better in today’s environment, which is probably why SBC thought it was appropriate to make a sequel.

Borat 2 showcases a lot of the strengths that the first one had from its genius improv to its utter vulgarity to simply showing how terrible America really is. The problem with sequels of any kind though is sometimes directors or execs get cocky or lack the vision to realize what made a character so good in the first place. It’s what happened here to an extent. The documenting of American lifestyle is still there through pranks and scripted situations, but it has a little bit of a chokehold on its effectiveness because of the need for lots of editing and forced plot lines. In the first film, Borat himself just sat there and let ordinary people do most of the work, but in this one, post production takes more of the control in what you’re supposed to laugh at. The biggest example of this is the Rudy Giuliani scene. I hate to break it to you everyone, but that scandalous bit you saw on TV was pretty highly edited. It doesn’t take away from the fact that Giuliani is still a nutcase, but adding dialogue when his back is turned to the camera and adding music to dramatize the idea that maybe he’s putting his hands down his pants to jerk off instead of taking out his mic pack doesn’t help to make him even crazier.

Even though the comedy might not be as top tier as the first, what is better is the overall storyline. Taking Maria Bakalova making her into a daughter to add more of a buddy cop like feel was a terrific addition to make this sequel unique and fun. The storyline they add between the two of them on top of all the madness they both pursue together makes it all the more entertaining and memorable and gives a new layer to Borat that I don’t think a lot of people will see coming.

For fans of the original, I’d say don’t worry, you will still be highly entertained. But don’t expect as much shock value as before. The ugliness of society is still showcased, but you’ll get a lot more love sprinkled on it than before. Whether that’s your thing or not is up to you, but I personally liked it. It’s one of those movies that’s hard to decide whether I’d watch again since it’s not as outrageous as the 2006 original; but I did get a kick out a Trump impersonator crashing a Mike Pence speech and a country guy trying to get an abortion for her daughter in rural Texas. If that’s not fun, I don’t know what is.

1.5 Nebs Up!