OVP: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)

Film: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)

Stars: Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova

Director: Jason Wollner

Oscar History: 2 nominations (Best Supporting Actress-Maria Bakalova, Adapted Screenplay)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

I distinctly remember seeing the first Borat movie in a theater.  I was in college on a date with a guy named Ryan, and while the date was okay (it didn't work out, as we had nothing in common it'd turn out), I remember loathing the movie, and knowing I'd write a review of it afterward for my school paper (I was the film critic).  Like actively loathing it (there was little making out afterward because I distinctly could not shut up about the movie).  Cringe comedies are my nemesis-I can't do them.  I didn't like Jackass in college, I actively avoid reality television...even when it's scripted, if there are awkward scenes in a sitcom I can't watch.  I will literally put my hands over my ears & yell "make it stop."  As a result I had no intention of watching the sequel, knowing both that I didn't like the first one and that I would need to write a review of it once again if I did (so I'd need to pay attention).  Unfortunately for me, critics & awards bodies threw me for a loop this season by nominating newcomer Maria Bakalova for Best Supporting Actress at the Globes & SAG Awards, giving her a very good shot at an Academy Award nomination.  And as you know on this blog, if it's nominated for an Oscar, I'm going to watch it.  So with a free screening for MoMA members, I decided to buckle up and see if perhaps things had gotten "Niiiiiiiiice" fourteen years later.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film continues the story of the previous picture, and of course the meta-reporter known as Borat (Cohen) is at its center.  Borat is now a pariah in his native Kazakhstan, though when he goes to America he's celebrated as something of a hero; this is of course real, as Cohen frequently will use real crowds & non-actors for much of his improvisational films.  Borat is assigned to go to the United States to give Vice President Mike Pence a monkey (who is a porn star in Kazakhstan) as a gift to try & redeem the nation's reputation.  Instead of the monkey, though, when he gets there his daughter Tutar (Bakalova) has stowed away, and he decides instead to gift her to Pence, and then later former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.  Along the way, they find time to mock public attitudes toward Democrats, QAnon, anti-semitism, & the Covid-19 pandemic.

I get the special kind of skill that Cohen (and it turns out Bakalova) have.  I'm not immune to realizing that it takes a specific kind of talent to put yourself out there in this style of performance art.  While Borat 2 includes scripted sequences (or at least scenes where the actors are less oblivious than they were 14 years ago, when the concept of "putting people acting foolishly on the internet" was a fresh concept), many of the scenes appear to be authentic.  Certainly Bakalova & Cohen's scenes with Giuliani are jaw-dropping...how a man who was one of the top aides to the President of the United States was able to be fooled by two comedians is one thing.  The fact that he was clearly unbuttoning his pants to have some sort of adultery with Bakalova is another (and that's obviously what's happening, despite his thin excuses).

But putting that aside, I didn't enjoy this movie.  The cringe humor is still there, and I was horrified in certain scenes, specifically when Cohen (who is Jewish in real life) dresses in anti-semitic & hateful attire to go into a synagogue, and once there meets a kind Holocaust survivor (who from the sounds of the reports I read after was not aware of what was happening in these scenes but treats him with dignity still)...I died inside a little bit from the horror.  This was not something I enjoyed watching, and for me personally I would go with 1-star.  However, I get that the skill on display in this movie deserves better than that, and so I'm going with 2-stars (I can't go higher in good conscience).

Bakalova is the best part of the cast, and fully commits-she was a wise find by Cohen, and is his equal here.  That being said, the Oscar nomination talk feels a bit too much for me.  The improvisational nature of her performance is impressive, but it's not as fully-fledged as other characters that you'd find in movies this year, and I think people are getting swept up in someone with a unique skill set, but not realizing that doesn't make her better than actresses like Amanda Seyfried or Olivia Colman (both in the Oscar hunt for better performances).  I won't believe she's an Oscar nominee for an improv comedy sequel until I see it (it's still possible she gets bumped-Seyfried, Colman, Glenn Close, Young Yuh-jung, & Helena Zengel are a totally plausible lineup, and would be much more up Oscar's alley), but I'm glad I understand why she's been part of this conversation, and on some level (even if it's not a lever I'd pull), I'm impressed that awards bodies got behind an actress this ballsy.