I watched the new Borat movie with The Husband last night in order to divert my attention from the ulcer-inducing debate. I have a few thoughts.
A few caveats are necessary.
1. I hated the first Borat movie. I couldn't get through even half of it. I am not a lover of gross-out comedy and I revile "bodily fluid comedy" even more. The scene in Something About Mary that involved semen was positively repellent to me.
2. While Borat has never been on the top of my movie favourites, I do recognize the social satirizing genius that is Sacha Baron Cohen. From Ali G, to Borat, to Bruno, to his underrated HBO series Who is America? I am in continual amazement at the number of real-life idiot-savants who gladly offer themselves up to him as tributes for his burning dung pile of moronic self-owning schtick. I also think that Mr. Cohen is a fine dramatic actor who has done yeoman's work in Les Misérables, Sweeney Todd, Hugo, The Spy, and most recently, as Yippie founder Abbie Hoffman in The Trial of the Chicago 7. My distaste for Borat has very little to do with Sacha Baron Cohen.
3. The Husband and both sons loved the first Borat. I think it is a Y-chromosome thing that seems to increase the enjoyment the more fluent you are in Hebrew.
With all of that clearly understood, I sat with The Husband as he dove in headfirst. The movie itself is everything that I expected it to be. It is crude, massively politically-incorrect, and at times, flat out physically disgusting. The plot, (I use this term loosely) is based on the premise that our favourite Kazakhstanian reporter must redeem himself from the shitshow and embarrassment he caused during his last foray into the United States. He wants to get as close to the hierarchy of power as he can so that he might offer up his fifteen-year-old daughter as a vestal virgin-type gift to whatever scumbag Republican politician or Trump-adjacent skank will take the bait. His redneck odyssey takes him to some of America's most hollow and soulless places and he meets up with a variety of lead paint eating, mouthbreathers who if they were cast in a Hollywood movie, every producer would turn them down because they are so ridiculous and unbelievable. I still cannot believe that these assholes exist but, exist they do and they are more than willing to prostrate themselves with unspeakable embarrassment to Cohen/Borat. And therein lies, why this film, as ugly as it is, matters so very much ten days out from the most important world election of our time. It is crucial that we know what kind of lunacy and hypocrisy are taking place in areas outside of our own personal bubbles and it is even more crucial that we expose it. Nowhere in the film is that more important than the lurid and horribly ugly scene involving the President's free lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
If you have seen the still photographs that are wandering around the intertubes of Rudy lying on his back on a hotel bed with his left hand down his pants seemingly fondling his junk, you will have already formed an opinion of what might have occurred. When I tell you that it is so much worse in the film and it is only by the grace of Sacha Baron Cohen interrupting the escapade, that Rudy is saved from his lurid self. If Mr. Cohen has done anything during this film, it is to expose Rudy for the fucktard that he is and to put an end to any credibility of "October Surprise" he might peddle. I have absolutely no doubt that if Cohen had let the scene play out, we might have had to bear witness to the dick pic to end all dick pics.
There is a lot about the virus and the botched CoVid response and given that Cohen filmed this during the summer across the US, he was able to really make the film feel timely. The one thing that I did notice is that he had to get far more elaborate with his costumes. He is definitely far more recognizable than ever before and he had to really lay on the make-up, wigs, fat suits, and facial hair in order to conceal his identity. Too many people are on to him and his gags.
The film is short, only an hour and a half, and is clumsy in its editing because it was so obviously rushed to Amazon Prime before the election. I would urge you to watch it because there is a genius method to the madness and it is incredibly timely. But if you are looking for fine art, this is surely not the film. That said, The Husband roared with laughter and he absolutely loved it. There goes that Y-chromosome thing again.
