Borat Subsequent Moviefilm review

BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM: 

THIS SEQUEL IS “VERY NICE”! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

AMAZON STUDIOS

Sacha Baron Cohen is back in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

 

            Everyone’s favorite journalist and TV personality from Kazakhstan, Borat returns to America to cause more trouble and expose the repulsive and hilarious sides of American culture in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, the unexpected sequel to the 2006 comedy smash hit, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Borat was initially a character created by Sacha Baron Cohen (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Bruno, The Dictator) for the TV series, Da Ali G Show which Cohen starred in as the titular character, that ran from 2000-2004 but it wasn’t until 2006 when Borat gained mainstream attention with the release of the first film directed by Seinfeld’s Larry Charles. 

            There have been comedies before that involved real people in front of the camera interacting with the characters such as the Jackass movies, but I’ll argue that Borat was the first of its kind to make a huge impact on not just films, but pop-culture in general with that style of humor. Now, fans of Da Ali G Show and newcomers were able to enjoy a slice of Borat’s craziness on the big screen…and boy, did they ever? 

The film was a huge hit with both critics and audiences, pulling in $262.6 million on an $18 million budget, and even earned Baron Cohen a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor-Musical or Comedy as well as a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination. Yeah, a movie where Sacha Baron Cohen and a fat guy fight each other naked in a hotel that spills out into a hallway, crowded elevator, and a packed convention ballroom was nominated for an Oscar. 

            Borat was a phenomenon and became a pop culture icon with many people still watching and quoting it to this very day and plenty of copycats (Remember Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa? Yeah, me neither!). In fact, Sacha Baron Cohen tried to recreate the success of Borat with the 2009 film Bruno (Which was based on another Da Ali G Show character), but despite earning a relatively positive response from critics it didn’t quite bring in the box-office profits that the studio was hoping for, which led to Cohen starring in more mainstream films such as the polarizing but still very funny The Dictator in 2012 and the abysmal 2016 disaster The Brothers Grimsby. 

            Now, fourteen years after the release of the first film, we have Borat Subsequent Moviefilm which premiered on Amazon Prime Video and takes the 10 Cloverfield Lane route and announces its release only a month or two before it comes out. While I don’t think it’s quite on par with the first movie, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is still an irreverent and outrageously funny movie that doesn’t go anywhere near political correctness and proves that Sacha Baron Cohen’s style of comedy isn’t going stale anytime soon. 

            The film follows Kazakh journalist and TV personality, Borat Sagdiyev (Baron Cohen) being released from prison for bringing shame to Kazakhstan after the release of his “Moviefilm” and return to America to carry out a secret mission to offer his daughter Tutar (Maria Bakalova-Gomorrah) as a bride to Vice President, Mike Pence in an attempt to redeem the nation. Just like in the previous film, Borat and Tutar go on a life-changing road trip across America, along the way they get into all kinds of trouble like participating in a father and daughter dance at a debutante ball that ultimately ends with menstrual blood, crashing CPAC disguised as Trump, and even quarantining with two Trump supporting men during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

            However, in spite of Kazakhstan’s “Interesting” rules and laws, Borat learns that maybe, just maybe Tutar among several other women are so much more than just objects you lock up in cages, and Tutar discovers that perhaps those sexist teachings by her father aren’t all that accurate. 

            Overall, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is the comedy we need right now in these crazy times with Sacha Baron Cohen exposing the dark and repulsive sides of American culture with downright hilarious results. In an age where entertainment is overly P.C. it’s refreshing when a film comes along that pushes the censorship boundaries and fully embraces its R rating in the raunchiest and most over-the-top ways possible, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is such a movie just like its 2006 predecessor. 

You name it, constant sex jokes, crude and irreverent comments, graphic nudity, the style of humor you would expect from Borat, and even an outrageous spoof of animated Disney films that had me laughing on the floor with Donald Trump portraying Prince Charming and grabbing Melania Trump’s (as a Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty-type Disney Princess)…well, you know. Without giving anything away, the eventual twist in this movie I also found extremely funny and clever. 

Crude jokes aside, this movie surprisingly also has a lot of heart, it’s basically a coming-of-age story tucked inside of a Borat movie, both Tutar and Borat go through arcs throughout the film and learn valuable lessons and make changes by the end. It’s not often for something or someone like Borat to make me verbally say “Awwwww!” but this movie somehow found a way. 

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is my “Go-To” comedy for the time being because this along with the South Park Pandemic Special I just reviewed show that in these dark and crazy times sometimes we just need to laugh at all this shit. Sacha Baron Cohen continues to bring his wacky style of humor and meld it with relevant social commentary to which you just want to stand up and salute the Kazakhstan National Anthem (The Borat version of it). 

Please, go watch Borat Subsequent Moviefilm or I will be execute! 

South Park Pandemic Special review

SOUTH PARK PANDEMIC SPECIAL: 

HOUR-LONG SOUTH PARK EPISODE IS JUST WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS IN THIS DARK TIME! 

By Nico Beland

Episode Review: *** ½ out of 4

COMEDY CENTRAL (VIACOM/CBS)

Randy Marsh announcing a Pandemic Special in the hour-long South Park Pandemic Special

 

            Matt Stone and Trey Parker knock it out of the “Park” again (Pun intended) in the hour-long South Park Pandemic Special which aired on Comedy Central as well as MTV and MTV2 on September 30, 2020 and satirizes the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in glorious South Park fashion. Ever since the pandemic started back in March, I was anticipating an episode of South Park that would depict it in a smart and funny way, and give people a good laugh during this unpleasant time, very much like what they did in the season 5 episode, Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants which premiered after 9/11 happened. 

            The fact that South Park has been on TV since 1997 and continues to stay relevant without ever getting stale is quite a testament to the power and importance of this show. With other animated shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy desperately trying to catch up but never quite hitting the mark the same way South Park does, I haven’t watched new Simpsons and Family Guy episodes since probably high school but will always tune in to the latest South Park season. 

            Given South Park’s ability to stay current for all these years, it was only a matter of time before the COVID-19 pandemic would show its ugly face in this quiet little mountain town. That’s where the South Park Pandemic Special comes in, a self-contained, hour-long special (A first for South Park) satirizing the pandemic among a few other current events and it’s just what we need right now. 

            The special very accurately depicts how people reacted to the pandemic and everyone has responded to it differently, some are able to follow the safety guidelines and practice social distancing no problem while others have difficulties coping with isolation and the inability to go outside and do the things you love. It doesn’t matter who you are as a person, chances are you can relate to at least one of the characters in this special. 

It gives you the opportunity to look at this unpleasant time in our history from a comedic perspective and get some good laughs out of the whole situation, lift some spirits if necessary, and give hope for the future. I mean, it certainly beats watching a laughably bad debate on par with a Tommy Wiseau movie that’s for sure.

            The episode follows the townspeople of South Park, Colorado trying their hardest to survive the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic with very mixed results. Butters is extremely bummed out about not being allowed to go to Build-A-Bear despite its reopening, his father Stephen is constantly going on rants about people wearing their face masks like “chin diapers”, Stan really wants his life to go back to normal, Kyle is Kyle, Kenny I don’t think has any speaking lines throughout the entire special, Stan’s dad Randy announces a Pandemic Special on his Tegridy Farms marijuana, and Cartman…is having the time of his life with no school and no annoying friends around him. 

            However, when news breaks out that school is starting again despite the pandemic, Cartman gets very upset (He even compares it to slavery) and does everything he can to prevent himself from going back to school, which is now being taught by the South Park Police Department (You can probably guess how well that goes!). Meanwhile, Randy realizes that maybe during that time he was in China with Mickey Mouse, he might have accidentally brought the coronavirus with him back to America after f*cking a bat and/or Pangolin and tries to cover up the evidence while also finding a cure for the virus…while Mr. President (Mr. Garrison, the former South Park Elementary teacher who was once a gay man, turned woman, turned lesbian, turned man again, turned President Trump) actively does nothing to stop the pandemic. 

            Overall, the South Park Pandemic Special showcases more of Parker and Stone’s talents and abilities to take these timely and relevant themes and make something funny out of it and give people a good laugh in these rough times while also making them think about the points they’re trying to get across. It’s a South Park episode that hits too close to home but in all the right ways and while I’m not sure if it’ll make as big an impact as the 9/11 episode, it should at least lift your spirits and put a smile on your face, it did for me. 

             I can literally sum up how I acted in the beginning of the pandemic with one word…Butters! Back in March, I had a very difficult time trying to accept the fact that I couldn’t do the things I love, but instead of Build-A-Bear it’s going to movie theaters, conventions, and hanging out with my friends. 

            There were times where I actually got so fed up with the isolation, new movies getting postponed, and upcoming conventions being cancelled that I was worried I was going to turn into a literal psychopath (and I don’t mean the movie watching kind!). So, seeing Butters in a similar phase not only did I find it hilarious but was also quite possibly the most therapeutic South Park episode I had ever watched, it really makes me want to write a fan letter to Parker and Stone saying how much the Pandemic Special really helped me during this time and it felt so satisfying to see exactly what I was initially going through in the beginning flawlessly being represented in the episode. 

            I don’t know what else to say, the South Park Pandemic Special gives exactly what it advertises, a hilarious look at the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic with a lot of laughs and goofy situations that only South Park can deliver without sugar-coating the dramatic and emotional moments. South Park fans are watching it and I’m sure plenty of non-South Park fans are watching it to see how they tackle this truly dreadful pandemic. 

            It’s something the world needs right now that only Matt Stone and Trey Parker could give us because in dark times like this it’s important to remember that sometimes we just need to laugh and that’s exactly what the South Park Pandemic Special reminds us to do. 

As I wrap this review up, I just want to say thank you to everyone who reads this and follows my blog in general, it’s been a long eight months with little to no movie theaters open and hardly any major theatrical releases (Aside from New Mutants and Tenet). I hope my reviews of streaming-service movies on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, etc. and digital rental services are still providing you all some informative and entertaining reviews. 

You guys are the best and I hope you’re all staying safe and your spirits are fighting strong during these hard times. Fight on!