In all honesty, I was going to open this review with a Borat quote...but Bruno has brainwashed me into forgetting them and only remembering things like "Vassup?" and "Isht."
Luckily, that's pretty much what Sacha Baron Cohen was shooting for in his latest mockumentary, "Brüno." If you saw Borat, you know pretty much what to expect...an all-out jerky shockfest of gags and pranks gone awry with unsuspecting everyday people at the helm of the S.S. Embarassment. Borat was great, so does the gay Austrian fashionista have what it takes to push Borat out of the slapstick throne?
If anything, I'll put Bruno on par with Borat comedy-wise...but, be aware, Brüno is about 4x as nasty and cringe-worthy as Borat was. With that, let's begin:
Brüno is an Austrian fashion talk show host who seems to be at the top of his gayme (game and gay put together..ahh thank you) in the celebrity world. After ruining a fashion show by wearing an all-velcro suit, he is then blacklisted by all the clubs and talent areas in Austria, and is left to search for fame elsewhere. He decides on traveling to Los Angeles, California to shoot up the ranks of stardom and become the biggest celebrity the world has ever known.
And that's the story...along his travels, he tries a cornucopia of varied attempts at fame such as hosting a talk show, becoming straight, and even making a sex-tape. Now, Brüno is certainly a difficult film to "critique" in the sense of looking for true skill and talent...all of that lies within Cohen's acting skill and the writing that took place, although much of it is improv. Brüno is considered a "mockumentary" due to the style of shooting that resembles a documentary but is also a parodied "mockery" of such. Other than Cohen, the only other characters you'll see (other than his assistant Lutz played by Gustaf Hammarsten) are completely innocent average-joes in America. Cohen plays his fabulously gay role with flying colors (no pun intended) and surpasses Borat in almost every way.
Along with Cohen's acting skill comes his incredible audacity in his filmmaking. Whether you like the film or not or believe some of it is real or not, you can't say Cohen and his crew aren't bold. This kind of shock-and-awe style of comedy can be hit-or-miss at times, but it will almost always have you looking away, dropping your jaw, or cringing in some way. Brüno seems to want to satisfy that young, mature audience rather than stretching for the older generations, and it does so perfectly. Theaters were guaranteed to be packed with old teens vying to get their gag-reflexes curdling and their eyes widened, and Brüno does just that. Luckily, its hilarious at every turn. Practically every single stunt encountered will have you, if not turned away, laughing for an extended period of time. But Brüno doesn't always do so with stupid, gross-out humor; at its core, much like Borat, Brüno has a deeper social commentary that you'll leave the theater realizing. He touches, primarily, homophobia and the kind of persecution homosexuals face, but also on the ignorance of many people and despair of many fame-seekers who will sign their life away for the limelight. In short, Brüno captures the essence of stupidity among many people and approaches such controversy with more, humorous, controversy.
But this isn't to say that Brüno is perfect. For its many laughs and brave efforts, Brüno still lacks that last cinematic umph to set it in real motion. Brüno feels more like a television special than a movie, and considering it grew from a British comedy show, this isn't too much of a surprise. Other than its simple theme of ignorance and idiocy within our population and its over-the-top, raunchy humor, Brüno really has nothing going for it. Its just one hyped-up, extraordinarily long YouTube video, composed of pranks, quotables, and conversation-starters. Even in its humor, its easy to feel a bit insulted by Cohen's stunts. Considering all my rage against Transformers 2's lame and cheap humor, its kind of impossible for me to hold Brüno in high regard for the same stuff (albeit Brüno was much more ridiculous than Transformers was). By the end, you may feel like an idiot for having paid upwards of $7 to see a gay man freak out conservatives, homophobes, and talent-seekers for an hour and a half. And what's more, Brüno is almost an exact replica, story-wise, of Borat. I can't give any spoilers away, but from beginning to end, Brüno definitely feels like a cookie-cutter copy of its predecessor, and this definitely takes away from the originality and creativity felt throughout the rest of the film.
Then again, Brüno is just plain entertaining and, by all definitions, interesting. Plenty complained about this film being a waste of money, stupid, disgusting, volatile, etc...but what were you expecting? In fact, I've heard of people walking out of the film...but perhaps that's just a reflection of what the movie, on a slightly deeper level, was all about? Through its ridiculous presentation lies a message; said message may be covered in pretentious Borat-fueled success humor, but its there nonetheless. Brüno never fails on its main premise: to shock. And as much as you may hate this movie, you're going to laugh with trepidation toward the following scenes. Luckily, if you hate the rest of the movie, the final song at the end will, no doubt, win you over. If you don't want to be grossed out, surprised or shallowly entertained, Brüno is not for you. For any of its shortcomings, though, Brüno stands tall as a comedy powerhouse, with Cohen giving a spectacular performance and shooting himself to an even higher level of international stardom. You have to respect the man for this kind of work and for daring to take such high-risk chances. Brüno is certainly an entertaining spectacle from beginning to end, and I enjoyed every second of what I actually saw.
8.0/10
-Kyle Shelton
