After fourteen years hard labour in a gulag for bringing Kazakhstan into disrepute for the content of his first film Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) is given an opportunity to redeem himself by his government. If he can give Vice President Mike Pence a present from his country they will release him. If he fails they will execute him.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s most famous creation has returned for a sequel, although you will not be seeing as much of him as you might expect. His notoriety is attacked head on near the beginning of the film and explains why we have to see Cohen adopt all sorts of other disguises in order to make his film without being noticed. The master stroke though is to introduce Maria Bakalova as his fifteen-year-old daughter Tutar. Bakalova is as fearless as Cohen and pushes her character to the limits to put those around her way beyond their comfort zones.

The opening half of the film has some hilarious and painfully awkward moments. None more so that a debutante ball which for me stood out as the most uncomfortably funny moment in the whole film and underlines just how fearless Cohen and especially Bakalova are. It slows down a little in the middle to shape a loose plot around the father-daughter relationship that is forming and lands the ending with a brilliant news report.

The film follows the same format you would expect. People are interviewed on false pretences and their values challenged. It creates humour and disbelief and hopefully challenges the views of those watching as well. I always find myself trying to piece together what really happened and what is in the magic of the edit which can be slightly distracting but interesting nonetheless.

Funny, outrageous and political. Everything you would expect from Cohen’s Borat.