Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2020)

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is the rare comedy that feels like it was smuggled out of the year it’s skewering, turning real-world chaos into razor-edged satire with the nerve to look straight at the pandemic era and keep a straight face. Sacha Baron Cohen commits with the fearless precision of a stuntman and a prankster, but the real revelation is Maria Bakalova, whose performance brings surprising heart and comic timing to the mayhem. The vibe is audacious, cringe-loud, and exhilaratingly unpredictable, with jokes that land because they’re aimed at something real rather than just being outrageous for its own sake. It’s not for everyone—if secondhand embarrassment or boundary-pushing humor isn’t your thing, you’ll squirm—but if you want a hilariously sharp time capsule of 2020, this one earns its “essential” reputation.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is clearly trying to recapture the original’s lightning-in-a-bottle prank-comedy while using the pandemic and election chaos as a backdrop for social commentary. The problem is that the shock factor isn’t as fresh anymore, and a lot of the big moments can feel more engineered than spontaneous, which blunts the sting and the laughs. If you’re tired of gross-out bits or you don’t want your comedy tied closely to a political point of view, this may feel familiar, noisy, and less clever than you hoped. That said, it does have a few genuinely audacious sequences and a surprisingly sweet angle with his daughter that might work for you if you’re mainly here for awkward, boundary-pushing satire.