Borat Supplemental Reportings – Miniseries Review
A three-part miniseries special debuting exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, Borat Supplemental Reportings features deleted and extended scenes from the 2020 film Borat Subsequent Moviefilm as well as a seven-episode show debunking conspiracy theories brought up by Jim Russell and Jerry Holleman, two people the character of Borat interacts with, in Debunking Borat.
When it was announced in late 2020 that Borat would finally be getting a sequel, I was practically jumping for joy. Even though I was about six or seven years old when I first watched Borat and I was way too young to be watching such an insane and inappropriate movie, it quickly became one of my all-time favorites.
I’ve probably watched that original film twenty times or more now, and even still, all these years later, I still find myself laughing consistently throughout like it’s the first time I’ve seen it. The 2020 follow-up Subsequent Moviefilm was a similarly excellent comedy that had a lot to say about the state of the world right now, politics, coronavirus, and so much more. It was just so funny to see the character of Borat Sagdiyev learning what COVID-19 is and what he is up to in the modern era.
But while that sequel was definitely hilarious, it was missing out on those scenes where Borat would go around and prank unsuspecting people. It’s pure cringe comedy and while it’s painfully awkward to watch, it’s hilariously good stuff. There were a few scenes like this in the sequel but there wasn’t enough, but gratefully, part one of this three-part special delivers the goods and then some.
One scene, in particular, sees Borat trying to learn how to play golf from a professional golfer, and the man teaching him gets increasingly frustrated as each second ticks by. Borat can’t seem to even pick up the golf club, let alone swing it, and the reaction on the face of the pro golfer is absolutely hysterical. It makes sense why it didn’t make the final cut of the movie since it didn’t really do anything to further the plot, but I’m so glad that it got released as a deleted scene. It’s pure, chaotic Borat in all his glory.
Another great one sees Borat taking a job as a barber for the day, which as I’m sure you can expect, ends in hilariously disastrous ways. He cuts one strand of hair as the man in the chair has to keep his patience and from there it only gets funnier and more awkward as each moment passes.
But if part one of this documentary was almost like the old Borat of the 2000s, then the second part, Borat’s American Lockdown is a surprisingly interesting yet still funny look at Borat’s stay with Jim and Jerry, two conspiracy theorists. We saw some of this in Subsequent Moviefilm, but this special episode gives us a more insightful look at the shenanigans that took place during his stay there.
Sacha Baron Cohen actually ended up spending a few days with these two men in the character of Borat, but behind the scenes, he was shocked to hear all of the wacky beliefs these men hold. From here, it segways into part three, Debunking Borat, which at first, I thought was going to be another parody style short, but it’s not. It’s actually a seven-episode special running at seven minutes an episode, where Jim and Jerry sit down with professional medical experts to discuss their views.
Jim and Jerry believe that the COVID-19 vaccine has some sort of a microchip implanted in it, but when they sit down with these medical experts, they obviously are told that the vaccine is completely safe (which it is). It was kind of interesting to see these two men seemingly try to better themselves and educate themselves more, even if they won’t fully commit to changing their beliefs.
Borat Supplemental Reportings is definitely going to be best enjoyed by those that are already big fans of the titular character. If you’re not already a fan of Sacha Baron Cohen’s wacky journalist character from Kazakhstan, then this new special is certainly not going to win you over. But for those that are big Borat fans such as myself, this is a wonderful special that is not only hilarious but eye-opening. In the words of Borat himself, it is a great success.
Overall Grade: A-
Certificate: Not Rated
Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova, Bob Turton, Imran Ahmed, Joan Donovan, Richard Evans, Andrew Marantz, Mutale Nkonde, Jennifer Nuzzo, Kathryn Olmsted, Hillary Clinton
Directed by: Kahane Cooperman, Jason Woliner
Created by: Sacha Baron Cohen
Number of episodes: 8
Network: Amazon Prime Video