Borat 2 - 23/Oct

[Replies From View]

Doesn't the trailer suggest that Borat, who has become famous within the semi-fictional world of the film, adopts a disguise in order for him to go undetected in public? Thus allowing SBC to 'prank' people in his usual style?

The idea being that Borat would be a good or bad impressionist?  Not sure how convincing it can be as a conceit.

[Replies From View]

[zomgmouse]

I've just rewatched the first Borat film and I think in my head in the maybe 14 years since I watched it when it came out I had this reevaluation in my head that this was actually mainly made to expose people's bigotry in a sneaky way. Possibly because Sacha Baron Cohen's MO turned that way a bit more of late. But watching it now, it's definitely just a very very stupid film that almost accidentally does the "exposing bigotry" thing, and it's a lot harder now to reconcile that with the characterisation of Borat and Kazakhstan and a lot of the dumb gags that don't actually have anyone "worthy" as a target.

I'm definitely still watching the sequel. But it'll be interesting to see how it goes. It's already "available".

[Dex Sawash]

This is live now, turning off the debate

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

The idea being that Borat would be a good or bad impressionist?  Not sure how convincing it can be as a conceit.

I'm confused by that too. The trailer could be misleading, that's possibly not what happens in the film at all, but Borat would definitely be a terrible impressionist. I dunno though, maybe he does a stunning James Mason when the cameras aren't rolling.

[Dex Sawash]

This is shit

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

I thought this was very funny, much better than I was expecting. Good stupid fun. A couple unnecessary scenes where the cringes outweighed the laughs for me (

Spoiler alert

the period dance and the Republican Women's Meeting

[close]

)

Haven't seen the original film in many years, but I was either dumber or more prone to a suspension of disbelief back then because I remember a large part of the humour coming from the candid camera/reactions of stupid people element of it. It was very obvious this time around that the reactions from people two feet away from a cinema-quality movie camera are not really "genuine" when dealing with the Borat character. But that's no big deal, the narrative itself is funny.

The actual hands-in-pants part of the Guiliani sequence is not horribly damning by itself, but overall he was very clearly being a creep and trying to sleep with the daughter character.

Spoiler alert

The Covid twist at the end was great.

[close]

Were the two QAnon guys he befriends actors? If not, curious to know what the pitch was to get them involved and how much of it was semi-scripted.

[zomgmouse]

Amazing. Much better than the first one, I'm calling it. Maybe it's because this is exactly the kind of content I was expecting, much more poking fun at the people who deserve it and making very very clever points along the way - rather than just making it all about how incompetent he is and belittling Kazakhstan. Some absolute genius sequences in this. And the fucking

Spoiler alert

covid twist ending

[close]

, pure brilliance.

It  legitimately feels like they were planning/filming this for ages and then covid hit and they had to change their tack and their narrative to account for it, just very quickly concocting this together on their feet. And what a benefit it brought to it!

Were the two QAnon guys he befriends actors? If not, curious to know what the pitch was to get them involved and how much of it was semi-scripted.

My friend reckons the way this stuff works is "characters" like this were convinced that they're appearing in some kind of TV show to get them to be in it. So it's not that they're filming them in real real life, but they are filming them. If you look at who is actually credited as an actor, that might shed some light.

[Noodle Lizard]

There's no way those guys wouldn't be familiar with Borat, though. I'm sure they knew what was going on and signed up for it (same with the nanny).

Then again, I'd have said Giuliani was in on it too if I didn't know any better. How on earth did he not see through Cohen's awful sound man disguise?

[Dex Sawash]

I did laugh a lot at McDonald Trump.
The scripted bits were strained. Some of the magic of the unscripted parts was missing.
No idea why the CPAC stunt didn't blow his cover, did the Secret Service just let it slide?

[bgmnts]

Haha that was great! I thought the actress playing the daughter was brilliant.

Spoiler alert

Cohen walking into a synagogue dressed as a cartoon stereotype Jew was hilarious to me.

[close]

[BritishHobo]

I was really unsure for the first third, maybe half - it just felt like more of the same cake-having as the first film. That kind of feeling you'd get when Family Guy would make a joke at the expense of racists, and you'd think 'yeah but like, you do that shit all the time, so I'm not sure I believe you'. But it grew on me a lot towards the end - especially with the overarching story, which was sweet, I think? If still also massively indulging in exactly the kind of stereotypes Cohen is meant to be abhorring. I don't know. I appreciated the America stuff, the anger felt mmuch more genuine this time, but still patchy and unfocused. If he really wanted to go all in on the mad bigoted conspiracy hatred cascading through Trump's America, he could have easily lost some of the many laggy bits where people just sort of politely try and go about their business while he pretends to be a wacky Khazakstan man who keeps his daughter in a cage. So much of it feels like gags you'd see on Sickipedia, lamely namechecking paedophiles or whatever for shock value, without any real purpose. I found the

Spoiler alert

anti-mask rally

[close]

and

Spoiler alert

QAnon

[close]

bits effective, but other bits felt weak -

Spoiler alert

Mike Pence squints vaguely at a bloke in the audience of a rally

[close]

- and I really can't decide what I think of the

Spoiler alert

Rudy Giuliani

[close]

bit.

Did quite like the ending though.

[JamesTC]

Just watching it now. Noticed the date in the fax machine scene is February. I wonder how much of the film was completed before lockdown started.

[JamesTC]

"The perverts have to be medical personnel"

[Small Man Big Horse]

Amazing. Much better than the first one, I'm calling it. Maybe it's because this is exactly the kind of content I was expecting, much more poking fun at the people who deserve it and making very very clever points along the way - rather than just making it all about how incompetent he is and belittling Kazakhstan. Some absolute genius sequences in this. And the fucking

Spoiler alert

covid twist ending

[close]

, pure brilliance.

It  legitimately feels like they were planning/filming this for ages and then covid hit and they had to change their tack and their narrative to account for it, just very quickly concocting this together on their feet. And what a benefit it brought to it!

My friend reckons the way this stuff works is "characters" like this were convinced that they're appearing in some kind of TV show to get them to be in it. So it's not that they're filming them in real real life, but they are filming them. If you look at who is actually credited as an actor, that might shed some light.

This sums it up perfectly for me, I really enjoyed it and it made me laugh hard a good deal, and sure, there's the odd dodgy joke but the majority are really strong.

[Ornlu]

"Daddy, why is sky so low?"

"That is roof, dear"

[BritishHobo]

His daughter was brilliant. Was surprised I found the daft storyline between them really good fun and quite lovely.

[oy vey]

I went quickly from bored to annoyed to that made me laugh to that was rather good. You can see where

Spoiler alert

covid

[close]

kicks into the filming schedule but they rocked it. Putting a daughter into the plot to rejuvinate a franchise comedy is clichéd but in this case it does work. It's all down to the performances, balance of setups and story, and the ending. Well done Sasha. Just.

[Ferris]

Hang on is this good then?

[cacciaguida]

Hang on is this good then?

Not as funny as the first (as I remember it) but realistically I think if you give SBC an hour and a half of your time, and go in with the right mindset, he's almost guaranteed to make you laugh a few times.

[mr. logic]

Their high five when that weird plastic surgeon said he would do a sex attack on her if her dad wasn't there sort of encapsulated it. I loved her, and their relationship was oddly sweet despite being objectively horrible

[cacciaguida]

RE. The Giuliani situation, I have a couple of questions, and comments.

1. How old did RG think she was? (age gap is creepy regardless of age of consent but still...)

2. She is clearly flirting with him throughout, right?

3. I can't remember, but who invites whom into the bedroom?

4. Also, even if at one point he says let's take this next door, give me your address, phone number etc - lots has been cut from the raw footage. How many of these points were first said by Tutar? Is it wrong for me to ask those questions?

5. She actively and aggressively tries to get rid of the soundman (Borat in disguise) when he tries to break things up

6. She is very nervous and he encourages her. She reacts positively to this (he's creepy and handsy in the way he does it though)

7. She actively tries to take his jacket off / remove his mic / position herself close to him in his bedroom

8. If they had fucked, or performed a sex act, or whatever, would he not be the victim given the false pretences and hidden cams and general deceit?

Obviously, these questions all come with the qualification that he is undeniably creepy in the tape.

But from his point of view, an attractive journalist wants to sleep with him and he goes along with it.

But again, yes, on a gut level it feels as creepy as many say it is.

Anyone else consider this or just me?

[lipsink]

I was expecting this to be rubbish but from the start when I burst out laughing at the

Spoiler alert

Justin Trudeau joke

[close]

onwards it was actually bloody brilliant. And yes the

Spoiler alert

COVID twist

[close]

was a masterstroke.

One reaction that I don't think could've been edited in was

Spoiler alert

the daughter saying to her dad: "That is fucking gross!" when Borat jokes about selling his daughter to him.

[close]

It all seemed to be done in one shot.

[rue the polywhirl]

Very niiiice. Great companion to the first movie. High five. Daughter reporter was great and as was Covid twist and Tom Hanks cameo. Loved Borat's public humiliation at the start of the movie. According to the guardian's three star articles and reviews this is just another day at the office...

[Glyn]

Was very glad that I also thoroughly enjoyed this. Reminded me of the good bits of This is America. Goes without saying but the actress playing his daughter is superb. It's good to see him have someone to play off.

[Noodle Lizard]

I didn't think any of it was especially strong, but it would've been nigh on impossible to recreate the "magic" of the first one given how familiar everyone is with the character (and reality/prank TV in general). There's far less spontaneity in it than in any other SBC thing; the phone/copy shop bits or the bit where he goes into the synagogue may as well have been part of a scripted comedy. Some bits just fell really flat; I think they were expecting a very different reaction from the Republican Women convention, for instance, and all the "how to behave in polite society" stuff was rather unimaginatively repurposed from other Borat stuff. The Giuliani bit was nowhere near as damning as it was made out to be - again, it felt like they were hoping for a lot more.

That all said, it got some good laughs from me, mostly in the narration and scenes between him and his daughter. I wish there had been more ballsy moments approaching the genuine sense of danger you felt in parts of the first Borat or Bruno - the Mike Pence thing was probably as close as it came to anything like that, but honestly fell a little flat (got little more than an eyeroll from most of the people in attendance). With its focus on Trump 2020 and COVID, I feel like it won't age nearly as well as the first one has, but I suppose that wasn't really the intention anyway given its quick turnaround and release model. More like a one-off special than a movie.

Fine for a Friday night.

EDIT: Does anyone know why Ken Davitian wasn't involved this time? I was worried when we learned of his character's fate that he may have died, but it seems like he's still alive and active.

[Ferris]

Got a few actual chuckles out of me, so it's already outperforming my expectations.

[Dex Sawash]

EDIT: Does anyone know why Ken Davitian wasn't involved this time? I was worried when we learned of his character's fate that he may have died, but it seems like he's still alive and active.

I was certain he died shortly after first film. Mandela, I reckon.

[brat-sampson]

I mean, given he was never going to get anything out of the American People that you can't see 10 x amplified over on All Gas No Breaks, I really liked this. More plot-based than the previous, but most of the awful jokes landed, the performances were great, the overall messaging was effective (the final shots really did seem to sum up the year pretty effectively) and just yeah. Good 90m.

[the science eel]

Hang on is this good then?

Not really, no. Couple of laughs at the start, and now and again you're thinking 'how did they get away with THAT?!?', but funny? not especially.

Maria Bakalova - his daughter - is very good tho'.