Bruno Review

Though he had a cult following when Borat was released in 2006, Sacha Baron Cohen exploded in the media with that film, because it was the first time that many people had heard of the brilliant British comedian.

The film itself was a hilariously tasteless chronicle of the American adventures of a fictitious journalist from Kazakhstan. Baron Cohen's genius is his ability to stage encounters that seem real to the people he meets, playing a character with a straight face in real time, fooling those he encounters into being themselves while still coming up with wildly outrageous, spur-of-the-moment dialogue.

So can Bruno, Baron Cohen's newest effort, live up to expectations that Borat created? Of course not -- Baron Cohen has forfeited the element of surprise. The audience won't have the same sense of discovery, of being shocked into laughter by the unexpected audacity of his vision. He's expected to be audacious.

But never fear -- Bruno is still a movie that will make you laugh so hard you'll gasp for breath. The formula is familiar - indeed, the set-up is almost identical - but Baron Cohen still finds ways to shock you into guffaws, over and over.

Borat came to the U.S. to discover America. Bruno comes to America so it can discover him. A TV fashion reporter from Austria, he leaves his country in disgrace after being fired for a wild mishap at a Milan fashion show, involving a Velcro suit.

So Bruno hops a plane to Los Angeles, vowing to become a star in Hollywood. The fact that he is flamboyantly, flamingly gay seems to figure in every calculation -- because he's obsessed with the subject, as well as being utterly convinced of his own indisputable fabulousness.

He finds an agent -- and then calls him while having his nether regions bleached. When Bruno decides he wants to make a pilot for a celebrity interview show, the tape he shows to a focus group runs short of actual celebrity footage -- so he inserts a couple of lengthy shots of him swinging his penis like a lariat (and hands-free, at that) to throbbing techno music. Needless to say, he clears the room.

At one point, he decides that fame can be acquired by releasing a celebrity sex tape -- if he can find a celebrity to have sex with him. His choice: former presidential candidate Ron Paul of Texas, who bolts like a gazelle when he figures out that Bruno is, in fact, hitting on him.

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Comments

[kushka53]

Don't waste your money! Bruno is a piece of trash, brilliantly marketed. Aside from a few momentary looks at the vicious underbelly of America's darker corners, an unfunny movie, veering towards basic porno that sets back gay rights 40 years. I'm so very disappointed. No one in my local theater, including myself, laughed much at all--most people had showed up expecting broad satire along the lines of Borat but instead got a film that doesn't begin to understand the world of gay camp. The scuttlebutt from the teenagers in my town is that "It's vulgar." Vulgar? For the teenagers of today's world to say that a movie is vulgar must mean that it really is bad... With a little bit of editing the film might actually have been better but as it is, it is overindulgent narcissism on the part of Cohen that parades around as comic satire. Its release and weekend box office returns shows just how low the satire bar has sunk in 2009. Prediction: will sink like a stone once the word gets out after this weekend.

[Rolfe Norman]

Brüno was disgusting, tasteless, and offensive; it was a great movie! Sacha Baron Cohen deserves an Oscar! The sex scenes were over the top and shocking! Baron Cohen delivers on the shock value. What amazed me the most was the improvised dialogue. This movie has many one liners that are just brilliant! I do not understand how he was able to keep a straight face. Sacha Baron Cohen's performance was incredible. I just hope we have not seen the last of this kind of comedy!

[googeoge]

Why is it? We accept women kissing and welcome anything they do together, but men doing stuff are called nasty? Women in this movie were obviously disgusted by Bruno, especially in the wrestling scene. Their faces were contorted in a pained expression. What is up with that? Woman show extended breast all the time and they flaunt every part of their bodies, but a man can only show his ABS, and he'd better put a woman on or near him to at some point in the picture. This Bruno is a genius. He knows the hypocrisy and weaves a movie out of a subject that is verboten.

[Brettster]

Thanks for the spoilers.

[Legof Eel]

I hope my kids grow up to be like Bruno!

[carlyt]

Cohen is brilliant as he was as Ali G and Borat. Hard to believe its that same actor. There is a related post at http://iamsoannoyed.com/?page_id=588

[Joethepauper]

After the first season of Ali G, I didn't think he would be able to do a second season without his interviewees knowing who he was. The second season was great and the third season was too. "Ali G in da house" was kind of stupid, but it was not the same formula as da Ali G show, and had a plot (not a good one, but a plot) Then Borat came out and people still didn't have a clue. Bruno looks like it will be hilarious. He could use the same characters for the next 50 years and some people will still not have a clue. People still don't know who/what Borat was/is, because they don't watch stuff like that. Diversity is important when it comes to what you choose to put in your eye, ear, and mouth holes. Someday, you might run-across an interviewer you've never heard of and make a laughing stock out of yourself for not keeping-up with what other people are watching.

[beauwulff]

For his next movie, he should pretend to be a Palestinian roaming through the West Bank settlements eliciting side-splitting reactions and commentary from the interlopers illegally living in there.

[Feanor]

Not much of a review if you ask me. You might as well have just said thumbs up.

[LBaby]

He had me a "nether regions being bleached" ... wow, he is a hot mess!

[MED1025]

You've already done 100 stories on it. Why do you need to review it?

[mitchpeter]

Any time a comedian pushes the boundaries it helps society as a whole. Being safe as an artist is not always helpful to society's forward movement.

[Holypat777]

Uh . . . Wow! With all the publicty about this film you'd think there would be more comments here.

Did they cancel the Caption Contest? I miss that . . .

[dcarn2]

Can't wait to see it!