Borat, now a father, takes on a new mission in "Yankeeland."
The original Borat captured the absurdity of post-9/11 America better than pretty much any other piece of culture. Fourteen years later, the world has only gotten more insane, giving Sacha Baron Cohen more than enough material to make a sequel.
Just take a look at the first trailer for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, released earlier today. After briefly noting that the original Borat “brought great shame to Kazakhstan,” we learn that our hero is nevertheless heading back to “Yankeeland” for a secret mission.
“I am here to give my daughter as a gift to someone close to the throne,” Borat says over an aerial shot of the White House. Much as the first film was a road trip to obtain the hand of Pamela Anderson in marriage, the second is a road trip to deliver Borat’s “daughter” to none other than Vice President Mike Pence. There are plenty of stops along the way that satirize some of the worst parts of American culture.
“Women’s clinics” run by religious fundamentalists who trick and cajole women considering abortion, cotillions that romanticize the Antebellum South and prescriptive gender roles, and right-wingers who would rather beat Democrats than the coronavirus all get a brutal mocking from Cohen.
Near the end of the trailer, Borat arrives at CPAC, the annual conservative political convention, dressed as Trump. He carries his daughter over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and yells, in the middle of the vice president’s speech, “Michael Pennis! I brought the girl for you!” presumably before Secret Service agents swoop in to tackle him.
Cohen’s targets still deserve their mocking and his techniques are still devastatingly effective both politically and comedically. There’s no reason to change the formula, and it appears that he hasn’t.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm will be released to Amazon Prime on October 23.
