Bruno

Review by Matthew Rodgers

“Vassup!” Sacha Baron Cohen returns to the same satirically sharp examination of middle America as Borat with the last of his persona’s from Da Ali-G Show to have a big screen outing. So familiarise yourself with the entire lingo from “Ich Don’t fink so” to “Vassever”, because everyone will be annoyingly quoting Bruno during the coming months, or will they?

Assembled using a cut and paste plot from that of his Kazak counterpart. Bruno is the tale of the titular Funkyzeit presenter, Austria’s number one gay fashion icon and his journey of self discovery in pursuit of fame and acceptance in the U S of A. A balanced blend of staged set-pieces to link the tenuous plot points, and in-your-face cultural confrontations has Bruno performing slapstick sex-acts with his Philippine boyfriend, causing mayhem at a Paris fashion show with his velcro suit, and getting up close and personal with the participants of a swingers party.

Needing to go one better than Borat, the shock factor has been cranked up to car-crash proportions, and that “line” often referred to as a comedy taste barometer has not only been crossed, but Cohen gleefully prances and postures on the other side of it for the majority of the movie.

The underlying problem with Bruno is with the character himself. Both Ali-G and Borat were very endearing creations; the Staines rapper was stupidly unaware of his ridiculousness whilst simultaneously acting as a social critique, similarly 2006’s box-office champ emitted an air of charmless buffoonery that made his social commentary on class, politics, and immigration all the more clever on Cohen’s part. The feeling here is that Bruno is as knowing in his intentions as Cohen himself, the odd sly look here and all too sharp comment there, it’s at times a little too smug.

As a result you spend a lot of your time second guessing what’s real and what’s been staged by Cohen and director, Curb Your Enthusiasm genius Larry Charles.

Regardless of the authenticity of what’s presented there’s no denying that’s its genuinely hilarious stuff. Term it the Ricky Gervais brand of humour, watching cringe-worthy exchanges through your fingers is the order of the day here; a chat show sequence that expertly condenses the entire movies agenda of laughing at ridiculous celebrity culture when Bruno arrives with his newly adopted African American baby in tow and almost sparks a riot. And wait for the unanimous gasp of horror at the parents willing to go to any lengths in order to secure their child an acting gig.

Looking beyond the shock tactics you have to praise Cohen’s commitment in throwing literally everything into the role, an intelligent performer able to stimulate both mind and funny bone in his attempts to expose the prejudices’ that permeate society, even with unquestionably his weakest creation he manages to skip to the summit of cinema comedy, laughing at a tumbling Ferrell and tired Apatow along the way.