Borat!

Over the weekend, I watched the new Borat movie. Sacha Baron Cohen is a genius and all his disguises and actions are terrifying but brilliant. BUT, while in the first Borat he is incredible, I really thought that the star of this film was the actress who played his daughter, Maria Bakalova. Her story was great and her performance was fantastic! Also, a shout out is necessary to the babysitter, Jeanise Jones, who unknowingly played the crucial role in the progression of the film. Very nice!

I found that the first half of the movie was entertaining enough, but not nearly as funny as every minute of the first movie. But, around halfway through the movie, it got good. I love the story arc for this film and if you haven't watched it, the way it all ends is genius. The movie is like a time capsule of 2020--in it, we see Republican conventions, Rudy Giuliani (in a very damning video, no matter what he says), and about halfway through, the big kahuna: Covid. I think that this element completely shaped the film and it is wild to me that they had to essentially improvise halfway through when everyone went into lockdown. I'll give a SPOILER ALERT now, so if you haven't watched it yet, skip to the next paragraph without reading!!! I think that the ending of this film is incredibly smart. Essentially, we learn that Kazakhstan sent Borat to America NOT to deliver his daughter to Mike Pence, but to spread COVID to the world. This is soooo smart, and I have to assume that they came up with that AFTER they started filming, which is shocking. Plus, not only was this a great conclusion, but the way they revealed it (in the style of The Usual Suspects) was much appreciated. This is what stuck with me from the film and I loved it.

I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who hasn't yet watched it. If you haven't seen the first one, I would recommend you watch it too! High fives!