Sacha Baron Cohen’s new film “Bruno” gets its release November 17th, and I was lucky enough to get an early copy.
Bruno is a comedy that comes from under the shadow of Borat and the Ali G show. Where Sacha Baron Cohen dresses and acts like an Austrian homosexual, then proceeds to go around the country exposing people for being ignorant. Whereas Borat’s focus seemed to be racism. This one is more about homophobes, although that doesn’t completely apply because with the various scenes, there are many different types of outrage. From negligent parents to the truth behind celebrity charity’s.
If you are worried about being offended, just don’t watch the movie. Everything that you can imagine being in an “R” rated movie is in it. Sex, curse words, penis’, midgets, and boobs. They were barely able to slip by without an NC-17.
I didn’t find this to be as laugh out loud funny as Borat, but they definitely pushed the same buttons. Maybe it’s just that I was prepared for what was going to happen. Another thought is that maybe they were just trying to go too far with some of the jokes. Not that I was overly offended, but maybe I felt that some of the places they went, didn’t add anything to the film, it felt too much like a fart joke. I mean, I actually like these movies, but they really aren’t anything but glorified candid camera bits, done with a slightly more cunning method.
I think this movie did a worse job than Borat at being a narrative. And by that I mean that Bruno didn’t seem to be as consistent a character traveling through a story that could easily suspend my disbelief. To me this is because the extra celebrity appearances. It’s not that the celebrity appearances don’t work, it’s that they only feel like the hidden camera video’s that they are. But overall I thought the movie was good. Especially just at showing what people will do if put into odd situations. Some of the reactions are truly shocking. Everyone I watched it with stayed after the movie, and we talked about what was real, and what wasn’t for almost an hour.
Although it’s hard to say if they are trying to make more of a statement, or if they are just out to get people to laugh. In either case I would only recommend it to the people that are out to get a laugh. Because while I see the messages in there, I can’t see anyone that’s willing to watch it doing any real self reflecting.
On a very short digression, I just want to mention that I think Sacha Baron Cohen must have a lot of acting talent, and it comes through in how different his characters are. And not just in his hidden camera roles, I thought he was great in Sweeny Todd as well.
The bonus features kept me busy for another three hours, as I found myself interested in how these movies were made. And in the commentary with Larry Charles (the director) and, Sacha Baron Cohen, they go into some of the details that turn out to be as interesting as the movie itself. It was especially interesting to find out how close Sascha Baron Cohen came to getting himself killed. He really did some stupid stuff. (The most mild of which was when a porn star broke his thumb.)
They also have a deleted, and alternative scene reel, as would be expected with a project like this. Some of the stuff that they didn’t use, was easily as good as the stuff they put into the film. There was about an hour to watch of these alternative scenes, but they obviously only showed the cream of the crop, because some of the scenes they talked about being cut in the commentary were nowhere to be found on the disc.
To sum it all up, if you are looking for a movie that tells a great story, do yourself a favor and rent “It’s A Wonderful Life.” But if you’re looking for a movie that exhibits the ignorance of everyone from celebrity’s to red-necks, and you want to laugh while doing so, then check out Bruno.
I give the movie a 7 out of ten laser-tazers!
And I give the DVD 10 out of 10 laser-tazers! *Because I so rarely enjoy watching bonus features.
You can buy the DVD buy clicking on this Link!
Or you can get the Blu-ray here!
Both are being released the 17th.