Released July 10, 2009
Vassup, world! I’m thrilled to have a chance to write on this exciting blog with some of the coolest people in the biz. I will do my best to provide some interesting insight from a less classically trained movie-watching mind.
After mass global hysteria, I finally saw Sasha Baron Cohen’s Bruno tonight in one of the strangest movie theaters of all time; the seats went about 12 across with an aisle in between that ran about 3,000 rows deep. The screen was taller than it was wide, which may have greatly skewed the sizes of the many genitalia that permeated the screen throughout the film. So rhandum!
Ostensibly the challenge for Bruno is topping Cohen’s previous smash Borat. It’s a blessing and a curse that Borat was such an incredible hit; everyone will certainly see Bruno, but topping Borat and the hype of Bruno may in fact be impossible.
Simply put, the movie is funny. Some scenes are pee-your-pants funny, and many others fall just below that category. What’s brilliant about Cohen is his ability to use Bruno to illustrate the close-mindedness and abrasiveness of some Americans towards gay people, and likewise in Borat towards foreigners. The way in which his victims react to Bruno is funny, but sometimes startling.
I am not suggesting that a person should be considered homophobic if he or she doesn’t want Bruno around their family; that’s the point of the character. However, as also seen in Borat, there are points during the film that display extreme hatred and prejudices towards the unconventional (ok, the extremely unconventional, but still). It seems clear to be more of a joke about Americans than it is about Cohen’s protagonist.
The one negative reaction I had about Bruno was that too much of the movie seemed contrived and too outrageous to actually have happened. There is one scene where Bruno interviews parents whose children are supposedly in the running to be in a photo ad with Bruno’s adopted African-American child OJ. He asks them questions like “So… Can your child (3 year old) be put in a car with no seatbelt going extremely fast?” And the parents respond after a coached hesitation, “yes, I don’t see why not.” These scenes are still very entertaining; however, do not possess the same intrinsic value as other, more authentic scenes; for example, when Bruno attempts to make a sex tape with Republican Congressman Ron Paul in a isolated hotel room interview (This is surely among the pee-your-pants scenes for sure).
I HIGHLY recommend seeing this movie. It’s definitely worth your money and time. It’s also a great reminder that we’re really not all as accepting as we’d like to believe. It is a fun movie and doesn’t need to be analyzed as deeply as I have analyzed it. It is just crucial to appreciate Cohen’s craft for bringing out the shock in all of us.
Totally Fab. Achyah!!
3.75 out of 4
(Review by Luke of Earl)
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