It’s very niiice.

As a man of many faces, Sacha Baron Cohen has had his fair share of alter-egos over the years. From Ali G to Brüno, he’s covered a lot of character ground, yet none have lodged themselves into the popular consciousness quite like Borat Sagdiyev.

It feels like a lifetime ago now, but when Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (or, you know, just Borat) ploughed through 2006 like a rusty bulldozer, its impact was palpable. Not only was it incredibly funny, spawning a million (admittedly tiresome after a while) catchphrases and impressions, the film scorched a trail across America like none before it, as Sacha Baron Cohen’s incognito approach peeled back the veil on the country’s barely concealed darkness.

But that was fourteen years ago, and despite his best efforts, Cohen has never quite landed the same blow since. Borat, as both a character and a cultural phenomenon, is a tough act to follow; a once in a lifetime moment that feels almost impossible to recapture. But, then again, this has been an unprecedented year, and the United States are living through unprecedented times, so if ever there were a moment for Borat to strike, it’s now.

Released from prison fourteen years after bringing shame upon his country, Kazakh journalist Borat Margaret Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen) is sent back to America with a mission to deliver Kazakh Minister of Culture, Johnny the Monkey, to President Trump in an attempt to redeem his nation. With his estranged fifteen-year-old daughter Tutar (Maria Bakalova) tagging along for the ride, Borat must risk life and limb to restore pride for both himself and his country.

As film releases go, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’s arrival on Amazon Prime couldn’t be timelier if it tried. With the US heading to the polls to vote in one of the most fraught presidential elections in living memory, the sequel to Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 docu-comedy megahit lands with every intention of making as much noise as possible.

For anyone with even a passing knowledge of Sacha Baron Cohen and his Kazakhstani alter-ego, it will come as no surprise that his latest outing arrives stacked with controversy and a litany of headline-grabbing moments that will no doubt dominate both cultural and political discourse for quite some time.

As it goes over much of the same ground as the first film, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm won’t be winning any awards for originality, however, the opportune timing of its release makes it equally, if not more, vital than its predecessor. Sure, many of the jokes are rehashed and more than a couple of the setups feel overly familiar, however, their topicality and pertinence give everything an extra punch.

Without question, Borat 2 is funny. Sometimes riotously funny. Often awkwardly so. And while, like much of Sacha Baron Cohen’s work, not all the gags succeed, either through a sense of repetition or the forced nature of some situations, when the blows land, they really land.

Whether it’s going into lockdown with a couple of unhinged QAnon types or honey trapping the perma-sweaty Rudy Giuliani, the film’s humor is as it always is with anything Sacha Baron Cohen does – outrageous, weird, ballsy, and frequently disturbing. Ok, you tend to spend much of the film guessing who’s in on the joke and who isn’t, yet, no matter the ratio of scripted to unscripted content, Cohen’s unique talent for coaxing out the dark side of people, especially at a time like this, is as disturbing as it is hilarious.

Much like the first film, Borat 2 is less a narrative-driven work of art and more a collection of comedy skits loosely sewn together. With the plot diminishing in relevancy as things progress, the story gradually fades into the background, however, in amongst the chaos beats the heart of a surprisingly sweet father-daughter tale, as what starts off as your average gag about Borat’s questionable approach to women, actually develops into something approaching heartwarming.

While much of his style is leading in the extreme, Sacha Baron Cohen continues to possess an uncanny aptitude for catching people off guard and luring out their true nature. Of course, there are times when Borat’s tricks make you feel a little uneasy, as various participants are led unwillingly down the garden path, yet a good portion of the characters on display appear so reprehensible it’s hard to feel any real sympathy for their compromised situation.

This style of uncomfortable comedy has been Sacha Baron Cohen’s stock in trade for decades now, and while his various characters have been hit and miss over the years, there’s no doubting that he has got the approach down to a fine art. Although the likes of Ali G certainly had their moments, there’s little doubt that the man has hit the sweet spot with Borat, and despite lingering doubts as to whether Cohen could recapture the magic, he’s managed to pull it off once again.

However, as good as it is to see SBC back on form as Borat, absolutely none of this could be achievable without the presence of Maria Bakalova as his disaffected daughter. For obvious reasons, it’s become almost impossible for Sacha Baron Cohen to adopt his Borat persona without being immediately clocked, and while this problem is partially swerved through a number of ingenious alternative disguises, it also opens the door for Bakalova to supplement the comedy routine. And what a job she does.

In her first role outside her native Bulgaria, Bakalova is thrown right in at the deep end as she’s put in a number of situations that could well wilt an actor of her relative inexperience, yet she steps up to effectively steal the show from under her illustrious co-star’s nose. Whether it’s talking in front of a Republican Women’s Club or getting up close with Rudy Giuliani, it’s clear that little phases the young actress as she mixes a gutsy approach with serious comedy chops to emerge the real star of the show.

While it was always going to be nigh-on impossible to recapture the first film’s lightening in a bottle, with hyper-pertinent subject matter, a surprisingly touching father-daughter narrative, and no small amount of outrageous laughs, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm gets somewhere near its predecessor’s level. While Sacha Baron Cohen delivers his best performance in years, its breakout star Maria Bakalova that steals things with a showing as ballsy and hilarious as anything her co-star has produced. With mere days to go before one of the most contentious presidential elections in US history, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm arrives like a devastating and timely kick in the country’s anoos.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is available to stream on Amazon Prime now.