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"Brüno" is exactly what you'd expect
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Promotional poster
Seeing unsuspecting people being made fools of has become a national past time. With shows like “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” “Punk’d,” and the original prank show, “Candid Camera,” it would seem that we as human beings can’t get enough of laughing at the sheer stupidity of others. Sacha Baron Cohen knew this in 2000 with the inception of “Da Ali G Show.” In 2006, he brought one of his characters from the show to the big screen with “Borat.” Now, three years later, he has brought his final character from “Da Ali G Show” to the big screen with the mockumentary, “Brüno.”
Gay Austrian fashionista Brüno (Sacha Baron Cohen) is the host of a hip style show, who is subsequently blackballed from the fashion industry after interrupting a catwalk show during Milan Fashion week. Brüno decides to move to America to try and become a celebrity. After his pilot for a celebrity interview show bombs, he attempts various other methods at becoming a famous celebrity (making a sex tape, adopting an African baby, settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict). When all of these methods fail, Brüno decides being gay is what is holding him back and goes on a quest to become a heterosexual man.
As far as the plot goes, it’s really just a thinly veiled attempt to string together a series of Baron Cohen’s pranks, but it doesn't matter. No one who is going to see this movie is worried about the story. The film’s main focus, as was the focus in “Borat,” is to make famous people look stupid, to make ordinary people look insane, and to shock and disgust audiences with a few scenes of complete debauchery.
That being said, is the movie funny?
It sure is.
Whether or not you believe what Sacha Baron Cohen does to unsuspecting people is cruel, you have to admit that the man is an artist. He can make an audience uncomfortable one moment and hysterical with laughter the next. Is “Brüno” better than “Borat?” Not really. With a film like this, what you see is always what you get. If you liked “Borat” and aren’t a homophobe, then you should like “Brüno” since they are essentially the same film.
The only thing that remains to be seen is what Sacha Baron Cohen will do next. Having retired his Ali G and Borat characters and with Brüno being a recognizable figure with the release of this film, it will be interesting to see if Baron Cohen will hang up his mockumentary shoes or devise a new character. One thing is certain, Sacha Baron Cohen is an absolutely fearless filmmaker. Love him or hate him, that is undeniable.
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