Brüno (2009)

For whatever reason, I saw this twice in theaters back in 2009. I thought it was pretty funny then, if a little awkward in places. It also had a weak story, but BORAT had basically the same problem. Now with seven years of perspective, I found it about as funny as I did then, but I watched it with better company this time. A slim majority of the gags hit, but I laughed just as hard at them the third time around. Despite being quite scattershot in its targets until the final act, BRUNO does have some interesting points about the way homosexuals and homosexuality are treated in America. Definitely not for the easily offended, and probably best suited to Sacha Baron Cohen fans.

Sacha Baron Cohen, who shocked the world with his outrageous 2006 mockumentary Borat, exposes even more intolerance, small-mindedness, bigotry and sheer stupidity via another of his outrageous alter egos, flamboyant gay Austrian fashionista Brüno, who travels to the US to find fame and fortune, accompanied by his devoted ex-assistant's assistant, Lutz (Gustaf Hammarsten).Like Borat, Brüno consists of a series of interviews with luminaries of the political, sporting and entertainment world, each designed to catch its subject off guard; these are linked by scripted interludes to help drive the movie's narrative. If Cohen is to believed, none of the interviews or encounters with real people were staged, which makes for some toe-curlingly uncomfortable yet extremely funny viewing.Brüno tries to seduce an ex-presidential candidate, riles a group of hunters with his talk of hot guys, sings a song of peace to help Israeli and Palestinian relations, upsets a group of swingers, taunts a middle-east terrorist, performs fellatio on the spirit of Milli (from Milli Vanilli) in front of a bemused medium, and gets fruity with Lutz in front of a baying, homophobic UFC crowd, all of which is side-splitting stuff. Of the scripted material, Brüno's sex scene with his pygmy lover and a gratuitous full-screen shot of a penis whanging around are hard to top in terms of outrageousness.Quite how Cohen managed to pull off his crazy stunts without being beaten up, lynched or shot, I will never know, but I'm glad he did: he's one of the most daring and funniest comic actors alive, in my opinion—it would be nice to keep him that way.

I started watching this movie because I expected it to be funny. Instead, it tops the list of one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I feel embarrassed for Sacha Cohen Barren for having made it. I seriously felt like I lost brain cells watching this movie. If you LOVE movies like Anchorman or Zoolander then I think you might find this movie mildly amusing but otherwise I would strongly recommend against watching it. The reason why this movie is so bad is because it's way over the top to the point of being unbelievable. I have never in my life met a person that is as "flamboyant" as him. I put flamboyant in quotes because he's really not flamboyant as much as overly offensive. The only reason I watched most of it (I couldn't finish it) was because there was some male nudity, but even that was pretty disappointing.

I like South Park. Some people don't. The reason I mention this is because people dismiss South Park as simple low-brow toilet humour. However, actually, it normally has a bit more to it than that, i.e. message (just wrapped up in toilet humour). And, in my opinion, this is what Bruno is.It's vulgar, it's offensive and it's cringeworthingly bad. Therefore, by rights, everyone should hate it. Yes, it is all that, but what's it saying underneath? Basically, it shows the human reaction to situations the everyday person isn't used to - in this case an overtly gay man.Sacha Baron Cohen pushes the boundaries to see what people will stand for. And the results make interesting viewing. Yes, some bits are scripted - if it wasn't, the 'film' would be little more than a clip show. There's a loose narrative strung along about Bruno wanting to be the biggest star on the planet, but, personally, I just go along to see how the U.S. Army reacts when a blatantly gay man starts talking back at them. Worth the price of the cinema ticket alone.Enjoy - if you dare (then watch Borat - it's pretty similar).http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/