This film was given the go ahead right after Sacha Baron Cohen's success with BORAT. I couldn't see how it could work the same. But Cohen has proven me wrong. Equally as funny and provocative as its predecessor, BRUNO does the unthinkable and out shocks BORAT. If you thought nude wrestling with an obese man through a hotel was extreme, you've not seen anything yet.
Bruno (Cohen) is the popular host of a fashion TV show in Europe. He has a short Asian boy toy. He gets front row seats at all the fashion events. Life is fabulous. Then the Velcro suit affair at Fashion Week ruins him. With the help of his dedicated assistant Lutz (Gustaf Hammarstan), Bruno decides to head to L.A. to become famous.
In the process of watching Bruno's idiotic attempts to become a star, Cohen skewers American celebrity obsession, consumerism shallowness and homophobia. There are great bits about tabloid celebrity bashing TV shows, the Hollywood trend to adopt foreign babies, fashionable charities and the homoerotic undertones of mixed martial arts. In his thumping of homophobics, Cohen, of course, takes a tour of the South where he rounds up walking stereotypical rednecks and religious zealots. But there is a psychic that you have to feel bad for a little at least. When someone asks if they can kiss their death lover, you say no. But Cohen shows guts unmatched by any performer when he takes Bruno to the Middle East where he meets with representatives of Israel and Palestine, as well as a terrorist group.
Of the real life people he makes fools of, no one suffers more than the fame starved. The most shocking comes in a bit involving Bruno's adopted African son, OJ, and a baby photo shoot depicting the crucifixion. And the photos are the least shocking part. When searching for a charity to follow, he meets with twins working as charity consultants who don't get it when he asks what is going to be the Dar-five, once George Clooney fixes the problem in Africa. Bruno does get a chance to make a pilot for a tabloid TV show that has the funniest, and most shocking, closing dance number you've ever seen in a Hollywood feature so far.
This very R-rated comedy is nothing but audacious. Cohen certainly wants to shock, but he also wants to provoke. This is subversive material. The most shocking part about the film is how Cohen sees so clearly the dirty secrets of America and finds brilliant ways to lay them bare. And when I say bare, you know what I mean.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
