Directed by Larry Charles. 82 minutes.
Starring Sacha Baron Cohen, Gustaf Hammarsten and a slew of unsuspecting guests. Released by Universal Pictures.
Even if its social commentary is not quite as sharp as Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat!, the comedian’s latest, Bruno, is equally gut-busting hilarious, just as fearless and, quite possibly, even slightly more outrageous. The film had me in tears from laughing so hard as no other picture has since, well, Borat! If Cohen’s latest is not quite as remarkable as that first film, it likely has to do with two elements: the shock-style of mockumentary that Cohen undertakes isn’t quite as shocking this time around because we’ve seen it before and the comedian attempts to take on not just one issue as he did in his previous film, but two – America’s obsession with celebrity and its rampant homophobia. The result is that neither gets quite enough attention as necessary.
At the film’s hilarious beginning, Bruno introduces himself as an Austrian sensation (the second most famous after Adolf Hitler, he quips) who hosts a fashion show in his native country. But he is kicked out of Milan fashion week in a hilarious sequence during which a Velcro suit he is adorning drags down curtains and all manner of outfits. So, much like Borat, he decides to seek fortune and fame in the United States. Much hilarity, I ensure you, ensues. Among the funniest is the filming of a focus group that is watching a screening of a fashion TV show he is proposing for America. Another sequence involves his trapping former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul in a room, attempting to make a sex tape and causing Paul to storm out, shouting “queer” at Bruno. It’s a funny, but disturbing, moment. Bruno’s tryout tape for a network program is also priceless.
The film reaches its zenith of outrageousness in its last quarter, as Bruno takes on an Alabama minister who converts homosexuals back into heterosexuals. Just listen to Bruno as he is not convinced that sweating with other men in a workout center, as the pastor suggests, is the right cure. Also amazing is a scene in which Bruno camps out with some pretty scary redneck hunters who, at any moment, appear willing to leave our hero in the woods, if you know what I mean. He really tempts fate by trying to get into one of their tents while in the nude. But the piece de resistance is Cohen’s participation in an ultimate fighting championship in the Deep South, which culminates in his making out with another man on stage as angry Southerners shout obscenities and homophobic remarks at him, throw chairs and water bottles and threaten to kill him. I’m surprised he made it out with his life. Despite whether you enjoy the film, you gotta give Cohen credit: he fully inhabits his characters, risking life and limb, all the while not breaking a smile.
If the film falls short of the greatness of Borat, it is because Cohen attempts a little too much. America’s obsession with celebrity itself would be a great subject for a comedy such as this one. In fact, there’s a remarkable scene in which Bruno holds tryouts for a baby fashion show in which real parents agree that their kids could operate heavy machinery, be strung up on a cross or be around toxic fumes for the price of being famous. It’s revolting and hilarious. But it’s in this area that the film is a little short on content. It’s tackling of U.S. homophobia, on the other hand, is right on target. The film is often poignant and hysterical. White rednecks are the biggest offenders, but there is also a sequence in which Bruno goes on a Dallas morning show and an all-black audience chastises him for his sexual preference. During an amusing clip later in the film, Bruno sings with an all star cast of musicians on a “We Are the World” knockoff, during which Snoop Dogg proclaims the Austrian as the “white Obama” and sings, “He’s gay, he’s gay, OK.” If a rapper who formerly helped launch gangsta rap, a genre that has certainly dabbled in homophobia, into the stratosphere has no problem, then others should take heed, sayeth Cohen.
Some have criticized the film, arguing that it not only blasts homophobia, but also revels in gay stereotypes. Agreed. But Cohen, I believe, is cashing in on these stereotypes not for cheap laughs at homosexuals, but at straight America’s ludicrous perceptions of gay America. In other words, a midget rides a bicycle which launches a dildo in Bruno’s back door because these are the moronic pictures of gays in the minds of so many Americans. Don’t like the message? Take some advice from Bruno and “get uber it.” Having made two films in which his outrageous character infiltrate the lives of ugly Americans, it’s sad to say, but likely true, that Cohen will have to move onto something else. He’s merely too recognizable. But I don’t doubt that he’ll bring the same level of fearlessness and absolute delirium to his future films. He’s the rare comic talent that tickles the funny bone and challenges the conscience.