Borat 2 (2020) Movie Review

14 years after Sacha Baron Cohen’s hit film Borat released to the world, Borat 2 arrived on the scene for Amazon Prime but was it worth the 14 years to once again see Borat on the screens?

In short no. 

Borat 2 is not as superior as its predecessor. Because what made the first Borat fun was its unexpected nature. No-one knew what they were getting themselves into with the first Borat movie which played into the hands of Sacha Baron Cohen.

The comedy came from the obscenity of what we were shown. And that unexpected humour was funny. But with Borat 2, everyone knows what to expect from this movie. Sacha Baron Cohen will go around America and make fun of people while doing heinous acts along the way. 

In theory that is funny, but the execution in the film was what let it down. 

Borat 2 had an almost impossible task that was confronted in the movie. A lot of people know Borat. And because of that the film takes the decision to dress Sacha Baron Cohen up in disguises.

This is the movie's first problem. In essence we are not seeing Borat in these quirky situations, we are watching Sacha Baron Cohen play many types of characters. It meant that instead of watching a Borat movie, I was watching Sacha Baron Cohen’s previous TV show Who Is America. 

Both Borat 2 and Who Is America are very similar and that made the movie feel like an extended episode of the TV show.  This meant that Borat 2 didn’t flow as well as the original. That’s because it felt as if I was just watching a skit show. 

But I think the biggest problem for the movie is where the story goes. I don’t mind the character of Borat’s daughter or her story about becoming her true self. That’s fine. 

It was the humour that came from it. It wasn’t funny to see this girl get a makeover so she becomes an attracting prospect to Michael Pence or Rudy Guilliani.

I honestly didn’t care for the story. 

The jokes became too focused on making fun of Republicans and that route of comedy has become very over-saturated. The movie had to do something different in order to become separated from the other jokes that have already been said. I don’t think Borat 2 accomplished that.

I get it, making fun of Republicans is the cool thing to do. But it is too easy. 

The first Borat balanced its humour against everyone, not just a single entity. That’s why it was funny. Everyone was made fun of. Borat 2 just feels like it was making fun of Republicans and that’s it. 

Which becomes boring after a while. 

Overall, Borat 2 will be talked about in the next week or so but ultimately forgotten quickly. It comes down to this, which movie would you watch in 2 years time, the first Borat or Borat 2? I know which one I’ll choose.