 | STARRING: Sacha Baron Cohen |
Although I was not a big fan of Borat, I did like the idea behind it, which is also the idea behind this movie. The idea is to take an outrageous character and put him in real life situations to see how people react and to expose their prejudices. In the case of Bruno, the idea is to expose how people would react to such an outrageous gay character. The funniest example is when Bruno shows up on a talk show with his African son that he obtained in an exchange for an iPod. The all-black audience is hilariously outraged. Another funny moment is when Bruno shows up at a swingers party, attempting to hide his homosexuality. And prejudices are fully exposed when Bruno reveals his homosexuality inside the cage of a Mixed Martial Arts event.
The problem with Bruno is that the funny moments are few and far between, even though the film is only 80 minutes. The movie hits some disgusting low points when it veers off its mission in order to delve into Bruno’s sexual practices. I really don’t know how this film managed to obtain an ‘R’ rating. I had to look away from the screen at times. The film tries too hard to be outrageous and shocking, instead of simply letting the real life situations generate the laughs. With a movie like Bruno you can’t help but wonder how much was real and how much was staged, but ultimately the movie will be judged by how funny it is. The few high points don’t outweigh the disgusting lows. Wait for this one to come on cable. You will know in the first 10 minutes whether or not you can stomach this movie or simply want to change the channel.
