Sacha Baron Cohen on The Huffington Post

'Bruno' La Toya Jackson Scene Restored On DVD

2009-11-04T08:04:58Z

Brüno, the preening, Austrian celebrity wannabe created by Sacha Baron Cohen, finally gets to meet singer La Toya Jackson when Brüno is released on DVD on Nov. 17.

After the sudden death of Michael Jackson, a scene in which Cohen, disguised as the flamboyant Brüno, conducts an outrageous interview with an unsuspecting La Toya was hastily cut from the film. The scene, removed before the theatrical release, earlier had been viewed by critics and test audiences.

Levi Johnston Is Doing Playgirl, But Who Else Should Go Full Johnston? (PHOTOS, POLL)

2009-11-03T17:00:31Z

Levi Johnston will be going full frontal in his December Playgirl spread, though he says he will expose himself tastefully. His manager Tank Jones leaves us with the reassuring words, "Everything's gonna hang out. We're talking 'Full Johnson.'"

So like it or not, Levi will unveil his privates during the November 16 shoot in NYC. Who would you rather see pull a Full Johnston? If we left someone out, leave suggestions in the comments and we'll add a few more.

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Sacha Baron Cohen's 'Bruno' Banned In Malaysia

2009-09-28T23:16:59Z

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia has banned U.S. box office hit "Bruno" by Sacha Baron Cohen because it highlights gay life and has gay sex scenes, an official said Tuesday.

"Bruno" – following Baron Cohen's hit "Borat" – is centered around the adventures of a flamboyant gay fashion journalist from Austria.

Shirtless Celebrity Men: Who Has The Best Chest? (PHOTOS, POLL)

2009-09-17T08:07:34Z

Summer may be winding to a close, but that doesn't mean there needs to be less shirtlessness among celebrity men. From sports to movies to politics - whose bare chest do you want to see more of? You decide. And who did we forget? Leave suggestions in the comments and we'll add the best.

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Ellen Sterling: Joan Rivers: "I'm at a Good Moment"... and She's Back in Las Vegas

2009-08-12T12:45:49Z

Having been surrounded by protofeminists when I was growing up -- professional women who were way ahead of their times -- I've always been drawn to women who are talented, who are out there blazing a trail and who are out there speaking out.

One of those women is Joan Rivers and, in anticipation of her appearance at The Venetian in Las Vegas later this month, I was really pleased to have the opportunity to speak to her. Once again, I broke the cardinal rule of interviewing and told her I am a fan. (Didn't mention that she's the only person I can think of who could have caused me to watch Celebrity Apprentice.) She responded very positively and put me at ease: "Good, I'm glad you are because I'm eating a bagel while we talk so we can both relax."

As is clear from the above, we spoke by phone. She was in Pennsylvania preparing to go on QVC to sell her jewelry line. Asked how that started, she recalled, "During one of the down periods of my career and someone came to me and asked if I'd be interested in selling jewelry on QVC. My first reaction was, 'ick,' because at that time it meant your career was over. But I decided to do it. In the beginning I designed everything myself. But, now we're a 20 year-old company and we have two designers."

That QVC experience is probably one of the reasons Celebrity Apprentice intrigued her. "That was wonderful because I am very entrepreneurial and I love being given a challenge and figuring it out. That's what the show it."

But, of course, Joan Rivers is above all a comic, a no-holds-barred, tell-it-like-I-see it performer. "Nothing is off-limits. I'm perfectly willing to talk about most everything. I was talking about 9/11 on 9/12."

And, asked who makes her laugh, she names others with a similar approach to comedy: "Sacha Baron Cohen, Sarah Silverman, Kathy Griffin, Jeffrey Ross. You know," she adds, "comics are smart. No one seems to figure that one out."

To those who would censor her -- or others -- for their material, she simply says, "If it's funny it ain't dirty. Just laugh and calm down."

Rivers believes, "Comedy is all DNA. My father was funny and my grandmother had a sense of humor. My sister is a lawyer and is funny," she says, adding with obvious pride, "She was the youngest woman to graduate from Columbia Law School."

But, even with all that wit in her DNA, Rivers recalls that when she unveiled her plan to go into show business, her family "didn't talk to me for a year. Looking back, I understand it. My father was a doctor. Every time a prostitute walked into his office she'd say, 'I'm an actress.'"

Her career, however, doesn't stop at comedy. She's an actress, screenwriter, author, director an d has won a multitude of awards. The one area in which she has run into a wall is late night talk TV. When she had the temerity to sign on as host of a late night show on Fox, she was fired as Carson's permanent substitute host and, she reported, he never again spoke to her.

"The networks are still very much an old boys club. They think women at night just want to watch men. I'd love to have my own late-night talk show and I think I could take them all. But, if it is, it is."

A frequent guest on talk shows, Rivers was last weekend the subject of a Comedy Central Roast and she enjoyed the experience immensely. When it was mentioned that one viewer especially enjoyed Mario Cantone's take on her Hebrew name ("NipTuch," pronounced with just the right gutteral Hebrew "h") she laughed. "Isn't he great? The whole thing was great."

Rivers has a new series on TV Land called How'd You Get So Rich? during which she visits self-made millionaires to ask how they did it. The first one was a man who invented what he calls "Billy Bob Teeth," described as ideal for those who ae "Tired of sexual harassement? Need a change in yer social life?" They are filled with decay, malformation and all those other items that will serve to slow a wearer's social life. They've also come out with a line of pacifiers.

The idea, Rivers says, "... is brilliant. They've sold $74 million. How smart was that?"

An inveterate shopper, Rivers was pleased to hear about the shops at The Palazzo, adjacent to The Venetian -- especially about Bauman Rare Books. "When you write this," she joked,"say I had to leave to visit Bauman. It sounds great."

Her engagement at The Venetian marks her return to Las Vegas for the first time in several years and she is eagerly anticipating the gig. Her audience, she's quick to point out, covers just about all demographics.

"It's been so long that I'm coming into Las Vegas as a novice. I get a young crowd -- people that never heard the name 'Carson.' And that's great. And I get people from Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Oregon -- from everywhere. You get a cross-sections. Because of this, I always knew who would win an election before election day. I love it.

"I also love it that I'm so politically incorrect."

Rivers is as open about her personal life as she is about her opinions. Asked about her daughter, she quickly responds, "My daughter's amazing and surprisingly a great mother."

How was she as a mother? "I think I was a terrific mother. I was there, I was a class mother, I did it all. I'd block out those dates and from 6:30 on no phone calls. I was there for Melissa and I don't regret a second of it."

Melissa's father, Edgar Rosenberg, committed suicide and Rivers speaks often and openly of her feelings about that. "I work so hard with suicide survivors. I turn everything into humor. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. I'm still angry with him. Look what he missed."

Joan Rivers today is very content. "I'm 76 years old. I'm at a good moment and I know it's a good moment. That's the thing about age -- when it's good you know it."

We discussed aging for a few minutes and I quoted something (from an unlikely source) that I find helpful when I think of the negative aspects of growing older. That is, "If you stop the clock, you have no future." Rivers paused and contemplated that for a moment. "Very wise. Who said it?" Told it was the response to an interviewer who asked singer Tom Jones how he feels about aging, she just said, "Hmm. He's right."

Meanwhile, Joan Rivers may be 76, but she clearly has not intention of slowing down. She continues to live by a philosophy that has served her well: "Do what you want. It's so important. I'm sitting here are 76. I have a wonderful life."

In closing, Rivers recalls something her grandmother said and adopts it as her own: "I pray for my grandchildren they should always want. Go forward in life."

As she does.

Joan Rivers will be at The Venetian Thursday through Saturday, August 27-29. Tickets are $38.25 to $138.25. You can purchase them online at The Venetian.

Sacha Baron Cohen Steps Up Personal Security From Terrorist Threat: Report

2009-07-25T07:40:20Z

Sacha Baron Cohen has stepped up his security after being threatened by a terrorist organization that is angered at its portrayal in the film "Bruno."

The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a coalition of Palestinian militias in the West Bank, said it was "very upset" that it was featured in the movie, starring Baron Cohen's homosexual fashionista alter ego.

John Wellington Ennis: Is Bruno Worse For Gays Than Perez Hilton?

2009-07-21T10:42:55Z

I am sorry to hear that GLAAD has condemned Sacha Baron Cohen's alter-ego Bruno as a setback for the depiction of homosexuals in popular culture. I do wish to be respectful of others' feelings on this complicated issue and acknowledge my own place as a hetero sympathizer and onlooker.

Throughout the film Bruno, we see Cohen stage increasingly elaborate public spectacles forcing unsuspecting people to bear witness to outrageously homosexual situations. One such scenario involves Cohen shackling himself naked in S&M bondage gear to his boyfriend, and wandering around looking for help to unlock them, including waddling through a gathering of anti-gay protesters carrying signs like "God hates fags." (They totally cut out the shot from the trailer where a furious shopping mall security guard confronts Bruno profanely. I hate when they do that.)

I recognize that the flamboyantly preening Bruno draws from well-worn stereotypes of flaming gay prima donnas. But Cohen brings much, much more to his Austrian fashionista, a character he has been doing for years. Yes, he's gay, but that is not what is funny about him; it's the voracity of his gayness, like Austin Powers in short shorts, an id unleashed to act out in the most grandiose stunts that he can pull out of his ass. (Sorry.) It is actually liberating to see a display of such flaunting of gay lust in a still-timid place: Hollywood. Bruno offers way more fearless gay action than, say, Brokeback Mountain.

Yet Cohen's escapades are consistently outdone by the reactions from the different spectators who suffer Cohen's sociopathic genius. Be it hunters in the woods at night, wrestling fans, or cops, the viewer is continually anticipating violent reprisals from any of these people who look really uncomfortable with homosexual anything. The film exposes the depths of homophobia in some quarters, transcending basic shock humor to capture the face of hatred. False pretenses for filming aside, this is documentary.

Further, Bruno's character is richly defined as so sublimely stupid, his persona presents a landmark in modern movies. Bruno is so dumb, he raises the bar, defying generalization. In the annals of comedy, there has not been a clown such as Bruno, whose idea of a good TV pilot includes a talking urethra. As prurient as he wants to be, the fashion activist Bruno is really a lavish wardrobe for juvenile humor involving butts, slapstick, dirty words, and anything else tried and true that could be classified as base.

Bruno's abject foolishness, farcical self-obsession, and quixotic quest for glamour in all the wrong places are all genuine comic ingredients, and not reflective of gay people. I would venture to say that I have never seen or heard of a gay person remotely close to Bruno, nor find grounds that would lead me to believe other homosexuals would be similar.

Bruno is a composite of our celeb-trash culture, but hilariously missing the point. He aspires to be "über-famous"--in a general sort of way, not for a talent, or body of work, or any work for that matter. That Bruno is just as likely to seduce Ron Paul as he is RuPaul to hook up with someone with a name is further satire of the fame game.

When you compare Bruno's impact on a heterosexual cultural paradigm with that of Perez Hilton, the blogger of celebrities who somewhere along the way became one himself, it presents a striking impression: Bruno is an act, Perez Hilton is real.

Perez Hilton routinely scrawls epithets and insults on photos released online by other photographers that he does not compensate or credit. His scribbling look like the rants of a patient who resides in an institution under protective care. He ridicules their shoes, hair, fashion, cleavage, makeup, aging, if they have been dumped, it they have been dating, if they are glamorous, if they have been widely successful, or not successful enough for him lately. He obsesses over the newest young stars that titillate 'tweens, canonizing his red carpet cartel regardless of ability. He often adds his own enthusiastic rhetorical flourish to ensure proper contextualization of his carnal sensibility, like obsessing over the dude from Twilight's treasure trail, or diagnosing Patrick Dempsey as sex on a stick.

I really don't even care about Perez Hilton or think any of his schtick really matters. It's funny and fine to bitch about Hollywood celebs, it is an American pastime and an industry unto itself. But for those concerned about the impact of gay stereotypes and and the cause of acceptance and tolerance, I would suggest that Perez Hilton's vapidly vicious agenda and his bottomless bitchiness ferments much more repellent opinions against gays than Sacha Baron Cohen's slapstick in shaved legs. Star-fucking is Perez Hilton's raison d'etre -- Bruno's raison d'etre is to shock people with inconceivable antics.

Compare the recent dust-ups with rappers that the two omnipresent personalities recently enjoyed. Perez Hilton went to his webcam in hysterics because the Black Eyed Peas' manager hit him after Perez called Will.i.am "a faggot," because it was the meanest thing he could think of. Considering that his last album was the pop-oriented Songs About Girls, I harbor doubts that Will.i.am is homosexual.

In his tete-a-tete with Eminem, Sacha Baron Cohen staged one of the most stunningly funny pieces of performance art ever recorded at the always-desperate-for-attention MTV Movie Awards. With the high-wire prowess of Cirque de Soleil, Bruno flew over the audience in an elaborate angel costume, somersaulted haphazardly to expose his loins, then took a nose dive into Eminem's lap, executed with excellent accuracy and astonishing grace. While Eminem's slack jawed security responded, Coen continued to unload funny lines as he spun around overhead like a homoerotic pinata.

While Eminem would claim days later that he was in on the gag, it may well have been the last bit of face he could save, after having that face rubbed in Bruno's package.

In this contrast, Bruno humbled the occasionally homophobic rapper by cozying up to him and proffering an obviously staged overture. Perez Hilton dug deep to insult Will.i.am and came up with calling him a faggot, prompting an overwhelming number of observations of the pot calling the kettle black, or the pot calling the Black Eyed Peas gay, or the gay guy calling the ladies' man gay, or whatever.

In Perez Hilton's famous exchange with Carrie Prejean--the one-time Miss California, topless model and future Republican vice presidential candidate--Perez asked the Miss USA contender about gay marriage, leading to the remarkable new delineation as "opposite marriage." In the ensuing national uproar, as conservatives fled to the dense diva, celebrating her as a victim of intolerance for her intolerant ways, how did Perez Hilton advance the debate he had unwittingly launched? He called her "a dumb bitch." This did not do much to diffuse allegations that Prejean was robbed of her crown by queenie conspirators, or rise above the snark with actual insight, or stress that these are other people's lives Prejean so glibly oppresses, and that the issue is not about her or her archaic beliefs. Perez Hilton made it about her, and continued to, as only a myopic hack could do. Perez Hilton hides behind his insults, only without the alliteration, cutsey puns, or highfalutin vocabulary of Maureen Dowd.

Sacha Baron Cohen's stand on gay marriage has received far less notice: Bruno actually tried to marry a guy in drag in the Norwalk courthouse, only to be rebuffed, illustrating the absurdity of enforcing prejudice in action.

For crying out loud, Perez Hilton's made-up name is even far more ridiculous than Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno. Mario Lavandeira's fake name literally aspires to be the low-rent Mexican version of meaningless fame for the shallow and talentless.

My hopes are to help focus the debate on issues that matter, as opposed to focusing on our contemporary clowns. But knowing that I have now risked myself as a target of Perez Hilton's rants, I have taken the initiative to post the below photo of myself for defacement, from the red carpet opening of my feature documentary FREE FOR ALL: One Dude's Quest to Save Democracy.

(The film has some humor with unsuspecting individuals, but it's about voter rights, not gay rights. And my producer Holly Mosher is lying on the ground as part of the 'crime scene,' an actual voting machine from Palm Beach County, Florida, used in the 2000 election.)

Cross-posted at www.johnennis.tv

William Bradley: Why the Big Fade for Bruno ?

2009-07-19T23:58:24Z

After a smash opening day, Bruno is fading fast.

Bruno, the follow-up to ace comedy star Sacha Baron Cohen's 2006 smash hit Borat, is one of the most hyped movies of the year. It's gotten so much publicity it feels like it's about to come out on DVD. But after a fast start on Friday, July 10th, the mockumentary about a gay Austrian fashionista has been fading badly ever since. This past weekend, it's down 73% from the opening weekend.

Why the big fade? It's actually not much of a mystery.

Once you see the movie, the only mystery is why it wasn't predicted in the first place.

It was striking how quickly Bruno's big fade began. Last weekend, Hollywood columnist/blogger Nikki Finke's headlines proclaimed "Bruno Ist Big!" The predicted opening weekend box office gross in the headline was $50 million domestic. Then it was $40 million. Then, finally, the actual $30 million. But nearly half that opening weekend box office came on the first day.

As Ali G, Sacha Baron Cohen interviews Posh Spice and David Beckham for a BBC comedy special. Obviously, they know who he is, and it doesn't hurt the show a bit.

Word of mouth was bad, spreading fast over its opening weekend and continuing. Why?

Bruno is a very crude movie, much more so than most reviewers suggested. It's also not all that funny, which is a bit of problem for a comedy. And there is an air of desperation about the enterprise.

The movie plays like the cable version of one of those porn flicks with a plot. A lot funnier, mind you, I laughed a few dozen times, but on that level. It's not all focused on gay sex, either. There's an extended sequence in which Bruno goes to a heterosexual swingers party, in which several couples apparently have sex while Bruno touches the men, trying to get one guy to look in his eyes while having sex with his female partner. This part of the movie ends with Bruno in a bedroom with a female dominatrix -- a real-life porn starlet, as it turns out -- who whips him when he's slow to strip down and have sex with her.

Borat discusses his life and potential improvements to the United States of America.

A lot's been made of Bruno supposedly being offensive to the gay and lesbian community. Which, of course, it is.

Bruno, now absent the fashionista journalist part of his persona -- more about that in a moment -- is the most stereotypically swishy gay guy imaginable. He gives narcissism a bad name, and is so sexually obsessed that he goes through life apparently seeking every day to recreate the 70s San Francisco bathhouse scene.

But of course much humor plays off of stereotypes. Cohen, a Cambridge graduate in history who is an expert on civil rights movements, can be defended with the argument that he is forcing people to confront the contradictions of their conditioning. Or something like that. Which may be true as far as it goes.

Borat responds to criticism of his views.

Borat was also offensive. To the nation of Kazakhstan, which is nothing like how it was portrayed in the movie. To Russians (the Borat character is actually based on a Russian doctor Cohen met). And I'm sure to other people.

But Bruno is much more crude, and arguable more offensive, than Borat because Cohen has to try a lot harder for effect now. Too many people see him coming now.

On the TV show, a much cleverer Bruno discusses awards show fashion.

I've been a fan of his since he did Da Ali G Show on British television. Then the show came to America on HBO, earning a number of Emmy nominations. Along with Borat, I have the complete TV show on DVD. There are the three core characters: Ali G, a young Brit on the dole who fancies himself a hip hop character, and ends up doing some hysterical interviews with VIPs. Borat, the fictional Kazakh TV journalist. And Bruno, the Austrian fashion journalist.

The Bruno of the movie not only looks different from the TV character, he is a significantly different character. On the TV show, he's pretty smart and clued in to the culture. In the movie, he's a self-obsessed dolt with no talent whatsoever.

That's because he's no longer a fashion journalist.

The fashion folks are all on to Cohen now, so Bruno can no longer do his Funkyzeit TV show. There's one sequence in the movie in which Cohen crashes a fashion show, makes an ass of himself, and is thrown out. After which he is "fired" by his network.

It's too bad. While, it may be true that as my old friend Patricia Duff said many years ago -- "Fashion is Hollywood without the substance" -- it's also true that it's an interesting scene. Are the designs brilliant or nonsense? Or brilliant nonsense?

The TV version of Bruno conducts an interview on cardboard fashion.

In any event, stripped, as it were, of his fashionista side, the Bruno character is reduced to a pathetically talent-free, unremittingly crude, flamingly gay exhibitionist.

And the people he does manage to fool into participating in his interviews and skits -- and much of it seems staged to me -- are easy targets. If you are a white redneck American -- thus unlikely to follow British TV and movies with funny foreign names, or remember what was on HBO (assuming you could afford it) at the beginning of the decade -- you are now the target of Sacha Baron Cohen's pranks.

Opposite the Queen of England, Ali G delivers his Christmas message.

This is why, from Ali G to Borat to Bruno, we see an evolution from the relatively sly and quite clever to the increasingly hyperbolic.

Where previous characters conducted amusingly surrealistic interviews with celebrities and figures of state, Bruno comes off as a stalker or comedic drive-by shooter. With some pretense or another, he does manage to get Republican Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul into a hotel room for an interview. And then starts coming on to him. Paul is kindly at first, you can see the wheels turning for him that he is a room with some poor unfortunate, until Bruno starts stripping down and dancing. Then he storms out.

Bruno has less success with other, bigger names.

When Bruno supposedly gets CBS to conduct a focus group on the pilot for his celebrity show (and let's just say that can't have been real), he keeps hyping an exclusive interview with Harrison Ford. Which in the event turns out to be Ford explosively telling Bruno to "Fuck off!" as he brushes past him leaving a bar or restaurant.

Was Ford acting? Or was he just pissed off at some weirdo stalking him with a camera crew?

An encounter with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was also apparently not amused, though not as angry as Ford appeared to be, didn't make it into the movie. Though Bruno makes a point early on, having lost his fashion TV gig, of saying early on that he is coming to Hollywood to be "the biggest gay Austrian movie star since Schwarzenegger."

The well has clearly run dry for these characters, and probably this concept. Which is why this movie turned out to be so crude and seemingly desperate.

But Sacha Baron Cohen is enormously talented. He can easily be this generation's Peter Sellers. He was hysterical as a gay French Formula One driver come to take over NASCAR in Talladega Nights. He can use Ali G, Borat, and Bruno in other ways, and obviously invent other characters.

In a hopefully funnier movie next time out.

You can check things during the day on my site, New West Notes ... www.newwestnotes.com.

Bruno Unites Israeli And Palestinian Victims In Disdain For Him

2009-07-17T09:03:30Z

JERUSALEM — Bruno's flamboyant sashay across the Middle East has succeeded in one thing – uniting Sacha Baron Cohen's unwitting Israeli and Palestinian victims in their joint disdain for his latest comedic creation.

Bruno is an over-the-top gay Austrian fashionista with a Nazi streak whose goal is to become the biggest Austrian celebrity since Hitler. To do so he travels to America, where he is told he must take on a charitable cause to achieve worldwide fame. So he decides to bring peace to a troubled place he calls "Middle Earth."

Mike Miley: Bruno 's Prejudice

2009-07-15T18:55:39Z

Sacha Baron Cohen is at his best when he's at his most political. Taken together, his three characters from Da Ali G Show constitute a body of work more like the work of a muckraking journalist than that of a comedian, work that reminds audiences of the vital place of comedy in our culture.

Baron Cohen has positioned himself as a man unafraid of speaking truth to power with his balls out, quite literally. Borat's cultural awkwardness brings out our geographical ignorance and prejudice towards those who are "not like us." Ali G's interviews with politicians and dignitaries serve as shocking testaments to how humorless, clueless, and out-of-touch our policy makers and elected officials are.

When we first met Bruno on Da Ali G Show, he seemed to be a combination of the two: his outrageous couture and unabashedly "out" behavior take Borat's act to a more threatening place where people express entrenched homophobic views, while his interviews do for vacuous celebrities and fashionistas what Ali G does for politicians.

This quality endows Bruno with the potential to be Baron Cohen's most provocative statement; unfortunately, however, Bruno limits its target to American homophobia, and while the events of the film do indeed expose prejudice toward homosexuals, they also reveal a fallacy at the heart of Baron Cohen's work: Baron Cohen has some prejudices of his own.

Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles believe that every white person in the South (or perhaps America at large) is a gay-hating redneck Jesus freak. The film serves mainly as an attempt to confirm their preconceived notions. Of course they find what they're looking for, just as anyone who goes looking in reality for evidence of stereotypes will if s/he looks hard enough ... Or if his/her prejudices are strong enough. We don't see anyone in the film contradict this stereotype or surprise Baron Cohen and Charles with his/her tolerance because Baron Cohen and Charles aren't interested in having their assumptions tested. That would complicate their simplistic worldview. Besides, they might add, that kind of stuff is not funny.

But actually, such an incident makes for perhaps the most hilarious moment of Borat. When Borat disrupts a southern woman's dinner party by bringing his feces to her in a plastic bag because he doesn't understand how to use a toilet, we laugh at the uncomfortable breach of etiquette, but we also are amazed by how hard the woman works to maintain her composure. What's funny is not that she's a small-minded bigot, but that she's a big-hearted woman bending over backwards to help make a guest feel welcome in her home. We leave that scene thinking more of that woman than we did at the start, and we still laugh our asses off.

For a film that claims to fight against prejudice, Bruno fights it with a prejudice of its own. Is this revelatory? Is this progressive? Or is it simply trading one kind of blind disdain for another, albeit a kind more politically correct and culturally hip?

Baron Cohen and Charles are, to paraphrase Woody Allen, "bigots for the left," and their comedy serves to reassure people who already agree with them that their dislike for the South, Christianity, and Conservatism are well-founded and not the stuff of prejudice or bigotry but rather fact. One could speculate that Baron Cohen and Charles may think it's impossible to be both liberal and prejudiced, or, to put it more bluntly, liberal and incorrect. Part of their invincibility on-screen comes from their outright fearlessness, but part of it also comes from a supreme sense of superiority.

Both Borat and Bruno reveal Larry Charles' and Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy to be deeply rooted in a cynical contempt for people. No one is above reproach for them; everyone is a total idiot, a total hypocrite, a total bigot, or all of the above. Everyone, that is, except for Baron Cohen and Charles. And while we might find their particular kind of contempt amusing, even hilarious, their intent and methods only differ from Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh with regards to politics, and that's not funny at all.

Twitter Filling Movie Seats For Potter And Bruno ?

2009-07-15T11:15:07Z

Austrian fashion journalist Bruno and Hogwarts leader Albus Dumbledore are two very different fictional characters with something in common -- and no, we're not saying that both are gay. The two big-screen figures are subjects of separate Twitter campaigns that suggest tweets are playing a role in the summer blockbuster movie season.

'Bruno' Banned By Ukraine Because It's Immoral

2009-07-15T09:10:54Z

KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine's Culture Ministry says it has banned Sacha Baron Cohen's new hit movie, "Bruno," because it's immoral.

The movie is centered around the adventures of a flamboyant gay fashion journalist from Austria.

Barbara Walters Reviews 'Bruno': 'Pornographic' With 'Close Ups Of Penises' (VIDEO)

2009-07-14T11:40:50Z

Barbara Walters went to see Bruno, and Tuesday she told "View" viewers just what they could expect from the film.

Joy Behar had told the audience during a previous show how funny she had found the film. Not Barbara, who especially wanted to warn parents who might take their kids.

"There are close ups of penises and pubic hair, with it wagging," Walters told the camera, moving her hand up and down in an approximation of a penis.

She went on.

"I don't need to know how you are having anal intercourse... I don't like seeing close ups of anal sex... This is a movie that's almost as pornographic as anything pornographic I've ever seen."

The moral?

"For heavens sake, don't take your children!"

WATCH (She went on for 4+ minutes, so it's been edited down):

Sean L. McCarthy: "Bruno" And The Irony Of Satire

2009-07-14T11:32:42Z

All of the to-do over Sacha Baron Cohen's new Bruno movie left me wondering what the big to-do was supposed to be about. Oh, that's right. Homophobia! Hands were wrung in the mainstream media over whether Bruno's uber-gay character would pose more harm to real gay people than to the homophobes Sacha Baron Cohen was exposing on camera. For a good recap of all of that, turn to one of my favorite newspaper writers who still has a newspaper job, the Washington Post's Hank Stuever, for his take on gays and Bruno.

The enterprise reminded me of a recent Ohio State University study on "The Irony of Satire," which found that conservative-minded people believed that Stephen Colbert has only been pretending to be joking about being a pompous conservative blowhard. To wit, the objects of the joke of The Colbert Report don't get the joke. Hence. Ergo. The irony of satire. What happens when you're lampooning someone, or some segment of society, but in exposing their ridiculous notions, they only think you're promoting their cause? Dave Chappelle cited this concern in quitting his successful Comedy Central series and leaving millions of dollars on the table. And now, here we are with Sacha Baron Cohen, and people questioning if gay-haters would simply hate gays more because of Bruno. Well? After debuting with $30.6 million in box-office receipts over the weekend...

For the rest of this commentary, read The Comic's Comic take on Bruno and the Irony of Satire.

'Bruno' Cuts Three Scenes For Lower-Rated UK Version

2009-07-14T08:45:10Z

LOS ANGELES — "Bruno" is getting a makeover in Great Britain so younger teens can see the movie.

Universal Pictures UK is releasing an edited version of Sacha (SAH'-shuh) Baron Cohen's comedy that will tone down the racy moments so it can earn a 15 certification from the British Board of Film Classification. That would allow those 15 and older to see it.

Emma Ruby-Sachs: In Defense of Bruno

2009-07-13T08:45:08Z

Bruno has received some pretty scathing reviews. The Los Angeles Times wrote that it "pile[s] even more stereotypes and discomfort onto an already hostile climate." GLAAD released a statement arguing that the movie "decreases the public's comfort with gay people." And even Fox News asked the question, "Is Bruno harmful to gay and lesbian causes, or just really funny?"

I happen to think that being funny doesn't excuse you from being homophobic or contributing to homophobia. I also think Bruno is a project that contributes positively to the fight for equality and documents the real hatred and craziness gripping many corners of this country.

Sacha Baron Cohen's films push people beyond their limits of tolerance in order to elicit extreme reactions.

Think of the self defense scene: when one dildo doesn't get a rise out of the southern gentleman teaching Bruno how to defend against the "homosexual," he brings in two, then three dildos. It is a concrete example of the method his characters use to approach all situations.

Bruno pushes people to confront homosexuality. He exposes violent and shocking intolerance by being so stereotypically gay, even hunters in the backwoods recognize and react to his sexuality. Bruno's "gayface," as one viewer called it, is a tool for exposing the intolerance that exists in many people whether or not the person they are talking to sashays particularly heavily or hits on them particularly forcefully.

You can't politely turn your back on Bruno and you can't write his actions off to eccentricity or "foreignness."

In some cases, this leads Cohen to reinforce particularly negative stereotypes of gay people, including the notion that gay men are sex obsessed and have no ability to raise children without exposing them to sexual activity at an inappropriately young age.

Most audience members laugh at Bruno's ridiculous portrayal of gayness, but some will use the negative aspects of Cohen's satire to justify their hatred. They will sympathize with those characters reacting violently to his sexuality. These are not the people the movement for LGBT equality is hoping to recruit. They are a lost causes whether or not Bruno inadvertently reinforces their homophobia.

Those audience members who consider themselves to be decent, tolerant individuals (perhaps they want to reserve marriage for straight people, but think gay people are okay as long as they aren't too swishy) will identify with Sasha Baron Cohen who is, after all, playing a great big joke on the homophobes. They will be shocked by the violence of some of the reactions in the movie. They will want to disassociate themselves from the bigots and hatemongers who throw chairs at a couple kissing in a wrestling ring and contemplate ways to break the bones of gay men in case they make a sexual advance.

Everyone who sees this film will be forced to confront the fact that we still live in a world where being gay is a dangerous proposition. Members of our community are threatened by violence and community reprisal, everyday.

Sacha Baron Cohen quite literally risked his life over and over again to illustrate this point. He did it while creating a sympathetic story, funny jokes and an overall entertaining movie.

Bruno is an act of bravery.

Our community should be using this movie to assist in the fight for equality rather than boycotting the over-the-top antics of a comedic superstar.

Ayman Abu Aita, Bruno's "Terrorist," Threatens Legal Action

2009-07-13T07:57:36Z

According to a report, a man interviewed by Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno and labeled as a terrorist is furious at his depiction and is threatening legal action

Last week on Letterman, Sacha Baron Cohen - appearing as himself - told Dave the story of meeting what he deemed to be a real terrorist. Cohen described hiring a bodyguard for his secretly located West Bank meeting with Ayman Abu Aita, labeled in "Bruno" as a terrorist from Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. Cohen said he also believed Aita was carrying a weapon

But Aita told wnd.com that he ceased his involvement with the organization years ago, he did not carry a weapon to the interview with Bruno and he does not have a bodyguard.

Aita called Cohen a "big liar" and said he's trying to hire a lawyer, as the film "made me big damages."

Read the whole Aita interview here and watch Cohen discuss their meeting on Letterman here.

Meanwhile "Bruno" opened at #1.

Here's the scene from "Bruno":

'Bruno' Pulls In $30.4M

2009-07-12T07:24:04Z

LOS ANGELES — Gay Austrian fashion devotee Bruno has landed the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office, though it's uncertain how much staying power he has.

Sacha Baron Cohen's "Bruno" started big on opening day Friday but had a huge drop the rest of the weekend, with the Universal Pictures mock documentary finishing with $30.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

GLAAD Slams 'Bruno'

2009-07-11T08:03:20Z

LOS ANGELES — The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said Friday that "Bruno," the new film starring Sacha Baron Cohen, reinforces negative stereotypes and "decreases the public's comfort with gay people."

GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios, who saw the film Friday, said that "the movie was a well-intentioned series of sketches _ some hit the mark and some hit the gay community pretty hard and reinforce some damaging, hurtful stereotypes."

Men's Iconic Swimsuit Movie Moments: Which Is Hottest? (PHOTOS, POLL)

2009-07-10T19:00:55Z

Memorable swimsuit moments in film may inspire visions of bikini-clad icons like Phoebe Cates or Bo Derek, but Hollywood men sometimes steal the show in steamy swimsuit scenes.

See the hottest FEMALE swimsuit movie moments here.

How hot are these guys? Cast your vote and let us know if we've forgotten anyone in the comments.

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Bruno Does Letterman Top Ten List: Reasons To See 'Bruno' (Today! WATCH)

2009-07-10T09:15:39Z

Sacha Baron Cohen made a rare break from character to promote 'Bruno' on Letterman as himself Tuesday night, but he was back on the show Thursday as Bruno to deliver the Top Ten List in a Viennese accent and gold jumpsuit. Maybe his dual identity allowed him to double up on appearances?

The top ten reasons to see 'Bruno' (which opens today) include: "It's like 'Transformers' but not as gay," "Features lots of suggestive worlds like 'Bratwurst' and 'Schnitzel'" and "Bruno is a flamboyantly gay entertainer who makes people uncomfortable, like David Letterman."

WATCH:

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Bruno: One Giant Swishy Step Backwards? (VIDEO)

2009-07-09T15:17:46Z

It's no secret we love "That's Gay," Infomania's sketch that skewers the crazy things straight people do re: homosexuality. This week host Bryan Safi pondered if Bruno is bad for gays asking if it takes the movement a "swishy step backwards." He's not the first: David Rakoff wrote a polemic on the subject for Salon in which he said:

"Baron Cohen's Brüno is a gay minstrel, in the most literal sense of the word...He is an open hydrant of empty, venal ignorance, a fame-chasing, grandiose fucktard, all because he is a cockaholic (his term)...Make no mistake: It is gay sex that has made Brüno stupid."

And Rashad Robinson from GLAAD said in a public statement:

"This movie does not unmask stereotypes by showing pictures like that, they enforce them. As someone who sat at the back of a focus group audience outside of Los Angeles, I felt they were laughing at us at times."

Safi's take is different. He thinks Bruno might be "the renegade we gays need now." And that unlike the comedies that came before in which gayness was the butt of the joke, this film uses ignorant Americans as the butt of the joke.

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Jonathan Kim: ReThink Review: Bruno -- Das Ist Offendzen You, Yah?

2009-07-09T14:00:52Z

It seems like there are two big questions people want answered about Sacha Baron Cohen's film Bruno:

1. Is Bruno as funny and insightful as Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan? (No)

2. Is the character of Bruno, an ultra-flamboyant gay fashion reporter, offensive or damaging to gay people? (Maybe)

Check out my review here or click the pic below (you'll be redirected to YouTube due to studio silliness).

For more ReThink Reviews -- the only (and, therefore, best) political movie reviews anywhere -- go here.

Bruno Visits 'Today,' Tries To Manhandle Matt Lauer

2009-07-09T11:14:54Z

Thursday on 'Today' Bruno received some devastating news. Luckily Matt Lauer was there to console him.

Lauer informed the fashionista that the Austrian foreign minister to Great Britain has called for a boycott of 'Bruno,' which opens in theaters Friday.

Perched like a cat in his chair and wearing a silver lame jumpsuit, Bruno choked up.

"VAT? Austria's turning on me now? This is a very private moment, close up please," he told the camera through his tears. "That is just so Austrian: they build you, zhen they knock you down."

"Hug me, I feel so lonely," Bruno cried as he leapt from his chair towards Lauer's arms. Unfortunately, the segment faded to black before viewers could witness a man-on-man embrace.

WATCH:

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Marshall Fine: Bruno Review

2009-07-09T10:55:05Z

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.

For the rest of this review, click here to go to my website: www.hollywoodandfine.com.