Sacha Baron Cohen is back as his alter-ego Borat who once again brings plenty of laughs and biting commentary in his wake.
The film opens with Borat in a labor camp as the government was not pleased with how Kazakhstan was not pleased with how they came off in the prior film. He is given a chance at redemption and asked to deliver a gift to the U.S. in order to gain favor for the ruler of the country.
Borat goes home before embarking on his trip and finds his family no accepts him save for his daughter Sandra (Irina Novak). Since women are treated worse than animals in their culture Borat is dismissive of her and heads to America to complete his mission.
Naturally things do not go as planned such as being recognized which forces him to take on various disguises. If anyone has ever seen Cohen at work before they know what is coming as various outrageous comedic scenarios are setup and then conducted in front of unsuspecting real people who are unusually candid.
While interviews of famous people are often how he operates; there are multiple instances from shops to social clubs and offices where the scenarios unfold. No matter how shocking and outrageous the scenario; people let their guards day and say some really shocking things and give their reactions unconcerned with the camera no matter how bad they come off.
Cohen reportedly had to wear a bullet proof vest at times during the making of the film as he goes into some real hotspots involving armed and radical individuals as well as Conservative hotspots in order to complete a scenario.
The humor can be very crude and shocking to the point of jaw dropping; but it is very well setup and executed and the fact that so many of the people involved have no idea they are part of a bit and their unfiltered reactions and comments shock and entertain.
The fact that regardless of his persons from Ali-G to Borat and Bruno as well as those he introduced on Who is America; shows that Cohen is truly able to alter himself and become the various characters he portrays so completely that they continue to fool some very high-ranking individuals into taking part in on camera interviews and let their guards down to give unfiltered responses.
Irina Novak is a real surprise as she is a perfect match for Cohen and she immerses herself so fully in the character that she matches Cohen perfectly no matter how outrageous the scenario and even pulls off some amazing segments by herself.
While the film does drag a slight bit towards the end, the number of jokes and the very biting political and social commentary will make the film a very controversial and for many funny film that fans of Cohen and the first film will not want to miss.
4 stars out of 5
The movie will stream on Amazon Prime starting on October 23rd.
