Bruno (Spoilers!!)

In 2006, a movie (Borat) came out that was so funny, and wrought with brilliant social commentary (like Frat boys are misogynistic!!! Who knew??) that instead of waiting 20, 15 or even 10 years, people decided to remake it only 3 years later. Wait, it isn't a remake? Okay, well three years later we get a sequel! Wait, it isn't a sequel either? Hmmm. Okay so 3 years later we a totally new and original work that looks, sounds and feels exactly like Borat but with totally different people. Oh wait, I mean the exact same people, just a different character. If I was to write a tagline for Bruno I would make it be "Just like Borat, but with more dildos."

Bruno(Sacha Baron Cohen)is the host of an Austrian fashion show until a stunt goes horribly wrong and so he has decided to go to Hollywood to become a celebrity. He tries acting(The most obviously set up stunt, where there is no punch line), he tries to host a television show(I believe the punch line here is on us for even watching), tries to make a sex tape (With Ron Paul, no less), then wants to start a charity(Getting peace between warring nations,The single funniest bit in the movie), and adopts a little African baby (like Angelina and Madonna). Eventually he realizes he has to be straight (like Tom Cruise and Kevin Spacey, a nice dig), so he enlists some Christians to make him straight. To be straight he goes hunting, attempts karate, tries to join The National Guard and goes to a swingers party. None of it seems to make him famous, so we cut to 8 months later where Bruno has turned himself into a very straight acting host of a VERY hetero fight night, until something goes horribly wrong, the footage ends up all over the world and Bruno becomes uber famous and gets to record a charity song with some pretty famous faces.

The highest order of praise I can give to Bruno is that it is funnier than Borat. Of course, I have attended funerals funnier than Borat. The real question becomes what is real and what is staged? If things are staged, then the joke is on the audience and that doesn't seem like the point. Sacha apologists and studio people always talk about the social commentary. Sacha is creating an overly gay character to point out the homosexuality in the world, and by world he means THE BIBLE BELT! Oh shocking, people in the south are homophobic, but is it really only homophobia? In the scene where Bruno goes hunting and camping, he shows up at one of the guy's tent at 3:30 in the morning, naked. Now, the guy reacts with some harsh words, but if I took a guy out camping I did not know and he was at my tent at 3:30 in the morning naked, I might not react so nicely, either. It isn't funny and I think the guy realized he was about to be the butt of a joke and did not like that. Would you? Ron Paul thought he was being interviewed for something real and ends up alone in a room with a guy essentially trying to trick him into sex and Paul reacts by calling Bruno "queer" and "crazy." Is "queer" a slur? I do not see how it can be because television shows use it in their title. Did Paul mean it as a slur? Possibly, but one cannot know and if some guy you didn't know all of a sudden stripped down instead of interviewing you, you might scream some things out and leave the situation.

I do not see any social commentary in scenes featuring Bruno and his boyfriend running things in each other's asses. I also do not think it is funny. I do not see the social commentary of Bruno touching guys having sex and showing the guys getting a bit uncomfortable with it. Do the guys react in homophobic ways, maybe, but not really. These people belong to a club of like minded people and they have just been, umm penetrated(for lack of a better word) by some guy who is obviously coming on to the naked guys. The slurs are out of hand, yes, and maybe Cohen is trying to capture that, but it isn't funny, nor is it terribly interesting. In the final scene, there is rampant disgusting homophobia, but is there any single person surprised that a bunch of drunk rednecks expecting to watching two guys beat the shit out of each other are homophobic? If you are, I would venture that you are an absolute idiot, the kind of idiot who could easily be duped by Sacha Baron Cohen's immature, unfunny, slightly offensive antics.

Bruno operates in a world where gay sex is always weird, where gay sex is represented by shoving remote controls, gerbils and champagne bottles in asses. By showing gay sex as only that, does Sacha do any good? Is he really pointing out any injustices, or is he helping to feed said injustices? By playing an overly effeminate homosexual who dresses in very disgustingly package enhancing costumes, can he do any good? When he visits the minister who wants to help him become straight, nothing funny really happens. Watch Religulous and see Bill Maher do the same thing, but much much funnier.

By feeling offended by aspects of this movie, am I part of the problem? Are only homophobes offended by it? Do I not have a funny bone if I do not think it is funny to watch a guy unload a fire extinguisher in another man's ass? If so, I am okay with that. I actually think comedy should be funny to be considered comedy. I do not have a Pavlovian response to penises and things being shoved into asses. I do not laugh just because I see those things. I am not saying that if you do, there is something wrong with you. if you find this movie to be funny, fine, that is fine. I laughed when the parents were willing to have their toddlers do anything to get a modeling job. I laughed when Bruno sang a song to warring countries and I smiled when Sting, Elton John, Bono, Slash, Snoop Dogg and Chris Martin showed up. But do not try and convince me there is some deeper cause going on here. Sacha Baron Cohen is not helping any cause, or righting any injustices. He is not helping a gay cause by showing himself chained to another man, engaged in some ridiculous sex act. If you want to laugh fine, cool even, but do not convince yourself there is a deeper thing going on here and stay out of my face with that social commentary bullshit.

Sacha Baron Cohen is a very talented man. I give him props for being so dedicated to his craft and not breaking character no matter what happens. I imagine he has been beaten, arrested, roughed up and called many many names and he always stays with the game plan. I respect the man for that, but I will be glad when I can go back to not paying attention to him. I do not need obnoxious characters to tell me homophobia exists in the deep south, or anywhere for that matter. If he really wanted to challenge the beliefs of people, he should show up as the most straight looking, straight acting guy ever and then start making out with a guy. That would, at the very least, be interesting. He should really make people question who is gay and who is not by not being stereotypically homosexual. I am not sure I would really care any more that way, but at least it would not be such an easy joke.

Final Grade: D-


P.S. Do not tell me to lighten up because it is just a movie. I am well aware it is just a movie, but people want to treat it as some social experiment and that is where my problem is.