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Directed By
Larry Charles
Written By:
Sacha Baron Cohen, Peter Baynham, Anthony Hines, Dan Mazer, Jeff Schaffer
Cast:
Sacha Baron Cohen, Alice Evans, Candice Cunningham, Ben Youcef, Todd Christian Hunter, Emerson Brooks, Amy Tiehel, David Hill, Alexander von Roon, Ron Paul, Domiziano Arcangeli, Sandra Seeling, Paul Barba, Richard Bey, Tara Macken, Trishelle Cannatella, Kea Könneker, Tom Yi
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Bruno (2009)
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Movie Review by Ben
July 20th, 2009
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Favorite Movie Quote: ""What's up?!""
Let's get this out of the way now; "Bruno" is not as brilliant as "Borat" was. Now that we have a clear idea of how both Larry and Sasha pulled that one off, their formula of doing things is no longer revolutionary, and we spend a lot of time trying to see through the character as well as the people he interviews. Are the people they pick actually in on the joke? Do they know that what they are doing and how they are behaving will end up on the big screen? Are they doing this in the hopes of trying to extort some money from Universal Pictures through lawsuits? As a result, "Bruno" predictably suffers in comparison, but if you can get past that, there are still many moments of audacious hilarity to be found throughout this one.
Indeed, Bruno as a character has many stereotypical traits that we have come to expect from homosexuals (this probably says more about us though). Many are coming out (no pun intended) against this movie as it "reinforces negative stereotypes." Cohen is not even trying to hide the fact that this character is a caricature of sorts, and he shouldn't have to because that's the only way the character could work throughout this film. Be it this or "Borat," Sasha's objective is to get an emotional response from each of the people he comes in contact with. Either with celebrities like Paula Abdul or with politicians like Ron Paul, he wants to make both them and the audience uncomfortable so that maybe we can see into ourselves and see the truth that we should have seen a long time ago. We are nowhere as perfect as we think we are, and we are not above the realm of racism or homophobia. It is embedded into our consciousness one way or another, and once we recognize the bad parts of ourselves clearly, the better we will be for acknowledging it.
The original title of this movie was going to be "Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt." This could have become a one-joke movie with the title character going around making everyone uncomfortable by being unmistakably gay and bringing out the ignorant schmuck in all of us. But it's to the credit of everyone involved that the joke doesn't stop there. Both Cohen and Charles have bigger fish to fry, and they even go after others like the religious right and those are even further to the right than they are. One of my favorite scenes is where Bruno and his assistant are stuck together in this S&M outfit that they cannot unlock themselves from, and they run into that Westboro Baptist Church group that carries all those fascist signs that say "God Hates f*gs". Seeing them get punked by Sasha Baron Cohen was alone worth the price of admission.
Bruno takes things even further when he meets with certain church groups who take it upon themselves to turn gay people straight, as if such a thing were actually possible. They see homosexuality as a lifestyle choice, not something that you are born with. Yet the funny thing is that these people who run these groups are probably hiding in the closet still, and this seems to be the case in the way that one of them stares at Bruno when he talks to him. It's like this guy can only convince himself of so much. Another scene has Bruno talking with another church member who essentially treats women as though they are animals to be reckoned with. This is the kind of guy you would just love to stick in a big group of feminists to see how long he stays standing.
I'm sure I find it as ironic as Sasha Baron Cohen does at how these churches try to promote peace and togetherness while at the same time sinking into the quicksand of sexism and of separating people they see as living a "life of sin" out of some misguided interpretation of the Bible. Granted, not all churches are like that (thank god), but its people like these who give churches a really bad name.
Another big target in "Bruno" is the world of celebrity itself, and of one's desperate need to be famous. I'm not just talking about Bruno himself, and he doesn't hesitate to stoop to some ridiculously low level to achieve his dream of fame. In one of the film's infamous scenes, he has an audition for a photo shoot with parents to see which ones will best work with his own little bundle of joy (we'll get to him later). Bruno asks the mothers (the fathers are nowhere to be found) if they would mind subjecting their children to a swarm of bees, or to be tied to a cross like Jesus. Their reactions are shocking in that they don't seem to mind doing any of that. They appear to be quite accepting of the terms to where you have to wonder what is more disturbing; What Bruno is supposedly attempting to put the babies through, or the fact that the parents appear to have no problems with it.
Sasha Baron Cohen proves to be one of the gutsiest comic actors working today as well as one of the most outrageously creative. With Bruno, he creates a character that (from a physical standpoint) looks completely different from Borat. I mean, that had to be the case because otherwise more people than not would have picked up on his act, and there would be no movie. But seriously, he interviews a leader of a Hammas terrorist group, he traps Ron Paul into a room in hopes of doing a sex tape that he thinks will give him a huge audience, he spends a night with a group of hunters talking about "Sex and the City," and he even goes on a Jerry Springer-like TV show where he shows off his black adopted baby who he gives a "traditional African-American" name of O.J. Where does Sasha get the balls to do all these things? Just about everyone else would do their best to avoid situations where they would be subjected to total humiliation or end up being hated so much by others. But Cohen is much like the late Andy Kaufman in that he feeds off of peoples' volatile emotional reactions to what is going on, and he is all the funnier (let alone the more shocking) for it.
Still, there's no way we can recapture the same feel of this revolutionary concept of comedy on film. Now that we have seen "Borat," we can see where this movie is heading to where it all becomes a familiar formula. It's kind of sad because there is nothing more invigorating than a comedy that gives you one gut busting laugh after another. "Bruno" threatens to be more hit and miss than its predecessor, but there are still many brilliant moments scattered throughout that are both incredibly funny and seriously shocking. It would actually be worth it for me to see it again with a big audience just to hear them react. I saw it on a Monday night with a very tiny audience. Maybe I'll see it again if I get the chance (I probably won't though).
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