Bruno (2009)

Directed by Larry Charles
Written by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Mazer, Jeff Schafer and Peter Baynham

Rated R for pervasive strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity and language.

I rented Bruno from NetFlix with mixed feelings. I had seen Cohen's other works, including Borat and the Ali G Show, both of which I found deceptively intelligent and political. His ability to elicit incriminating responses from his interview subjects is mind-boggling. With Borat, I thought this form of comedy had reached it's highest point. I was wrong. Bruno goes further. Some viewers are offended by the film's gratuitous male nudity. Deal with it. If looking at penises makes you deeply uncomfortable, you probably have issues that run deeper than this film. It's true that a lot of the content of the movie revolves around Cohen using his flamboyantly gay character Bruno to make conservative anti-gay types uncomfortable. This can be uncomfortable for the viewer as well, but with ultimate pay-off is worth it. Cohen unearths America's deep-seated homophobia and examines it like a specimen in a jar.

Along the way, Cohen tackles other issues, including fashion. In one particularly funny scene, Bruno happily informs a woman that her son has been chosen to be a baby Nazi for a WWII-themed photo shoot. Bruno tells her that he is going to be pushing two Jewish babies into an oven in a wheelbarrow, and would she have any problems with that? The woman said this would be fine. While it is humorous (and saddening) that people would use their children like this, the ultimate comic pay-off for this scene is when we get to see a few of the photos that came from these themed baby photo shoots. 

Bruno aims his sharpened comic wit at Hollywood in general, especially celebrities with adopted African babies. Supposedly in order to fit in with the Hollywood elite, Bruno adopts his own African baby, who he treats like an accessory for the rest of the movie.

At one point in the film, Bruno decides that all the really famous people in Hollywood are straight. In order to achieve the stardom he feels he deserves, Bruno goes into seclusion for months before reappearing as "Straight Dave", Bruno's alter-ego. For the film's finale, Bruno gathers a large number of red-neck cage-fight enthusiasts in an arena for a cage-fight event hosted by "Straight Dave". The fans are excited to see what they think will be a testosterone-fest of a cage fight. When they instead get a touching (if gratuitously gay) scene of male-male love, the fans go crazy with disgust. Some of the audience leave, some yell violent hate slogans, some throw drinks at Bruno and his lover. Several of the fans looks shocked and betrayed, several of them comically wearing "Straight Dave" T-shirts they'd gotten for the event. I even saw a few in the crowd who looked like they understood the point that Cohen was making. People who were suddenly more disgusted by the gross display of homophobic violence on the part of the fans than the homosexual love that was taking place within the cage.

I gave Bruno a 10/10. It's immature, it's gross, and it's humor never strays far from the gutter. That being said, it is the best social commentary on homophobia since "But I'm a Cheerleader". Cohen uses shock-comedy to get at issues that most comedians won't touch. While his methods may be questionable, I feel America is indebted to Cohen for his bravery and willingness to "go there". Expect more great things from Cohen in the future!













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