Review: Brüno

Brüno

OPENING: 07/10/2009

STUDIO: Universal

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

SOUNDTRACK:
Not yet available

The Charge
Borat was so 2006.

Opening Statement
Borat also had a point.

Facts of the Case
Austrian fashion designer Brüno (Sacha Baron Cohen, Sweeney Todd) is about to show off his snazzy Velcro suit at the latest Milan show. However, an embarrassingly disastrous mishap forces show organizers to slam the door in Brüno’s face. Thus, he’s now blacklisted from his own profession. All he wants is to be famous, so he decides to try his luck in the entertainment centre of the World: Los Angeles.

Upon arriving, he soon gets an assistant in the loyal Lutz (Gustaf Hammersten), Lutz is secretly in love with his boss, though Brüno has—ahem—bigger things on his mind. Initially, he nabs a bit part in a TV legal drama. When things backfire, he then decides to go even further by creating a reality show consisting of celebrity interviews. However, his pilot ends up being a waste of time to producers, as Brüno decides to kill time by showing his manhood dance and talk on film.

Still unwilling to give up, Brüno decides to go to extreme measures. First, he "adopts" an African child (whom he proudly names O.J.) for publicity purposes. Second, he attempts to become straight via spiritual conversion so he could be more accepted. Third, he uses such events as swinger parties and wrestling gigs to establish heterosexuality. Will he triumph and achieve worldwide celebrity status? Or could true love be his real ticket to happiness?

The Evidence
The general consensus regarding Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest firecracker of a comedy is mostly correct. The film is thunderously lewd, vulgar, and outrageous, with at least six or seven huge laughs punctuating its 82-minute running time. It will offend, shock, and appall the most liberal of movie-goers. They, in turn, will attempt to eat this up as something they’ve never seen before. It’s impossible to deny that Cohen has become a cinematic carnie of sensationalism and an anti-P.C. master of ceremonies. Every single situation Brüno finds himself in is an inspired combination of fascinated horror and insatiable delight.

Perhaps it’s because I set the bar too high for Brüno that I walked out of the theater somewhat disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, now. I laughed. A lot. A whole lot.

What’s missing was a profound sense of satire which Cohen’s previous effort, Borat, exhibited in strong doses. The reporter from Kazakhstan caused a bigger stir because of how he exposed America’s egoism and overhyped patriotism through a series of encounters of people from all walks of life. The character came off as sexist, perverted, and xenophobic. Yet, he was really mocking the commonly-held American attitude towards foreigners to create something which was so funny it had us laughing at ourselves. In the process, Cohen emerged as a modern-day Jonathan Swift and director Larry Charles became the equivalent of Mark Twain with a movie camera. The intention was savage, but the result was a piece of unequivocal comic brilliance.

Brüno, in several ways, takes small steps backward. The targets are more obvious. The routines feel more staged. The title character’s outlandish behavior eventually becomes tiresome. The toilet humor and exposed body parts were seen in advance. The jokes were less inventive. Sundry satiric points are substituted for excessive homoerotic urges and obsessions with body parts. If Borat was a joyous climax of comic proportions, then Brüno is simply fortified foreplay.

At the center of this masquerade is Cohen, who miraculously never breaks character even in the most dangerous of circumstances. It’s a wonder the guy hasn’t shot by now, instead dealing with a cornucopia of vicious lawsuits. Still, love him or not, Cohen has balls the size of watermelons and intends to use them for all they’re worth. His performance is a brazen exercise of committed acting, a hilarious assault against the senses which defies expectation and critical harpoons. All he wants is for his audience to laugh. And he certainly succeeds with his goal, even if it’s not at the same quality of his previous outings. That being said, I kind of wish Cohen would move on to something radically different, rather than depend on his Da Ali G Show characterizations for big-screen ventures. It’s bound to happen sometime, and he knows it.

As funny as Brüno is, it also still can’t quite overcome the congruous journey of its Kazakhstani cousin. The incorporation of a dim-witted assistant, the desire to be accepted, the globe-trotting aesthetic, the hotel-room humping, the slap-happy shenanigans, the obliviousness to being offensive…they are all present again in Brüno. They aren’t nearly as fresh, either. The sequence where Brüno and Lutz wake up naked one morning strapped to each other by locked S&M garments and then gallivanting around in public is a perfect example. It doesn’t have near the near the audacity or effect of the Borat‘s hotel room scene. That, my friends, was an irreverent gem which combined hand parties, blotted-out 10-inchers, fat-ass munching, and nude conference-room confrontations. At every single angle, Brüno promises far more than its predecessor, yet it only limits its gluttonous ambition.

Thankfully, Brüno is still worth seeing for Cohen’s fearlessness and Charles’ ability to capture victim reaction with exceptional aplomb. After raping post-modern, Puritan-esque values in Borat and unmasking moronic fanaticism among organized religions in Religulous, there is nothing Charles is afraid to do while sitting in the director’s chair. In many ways, people should be more afraid of him than Cohen, who’s really the puppet in Charles’ play taking all the bullets. One shot of utter genius is the moment when a desperate-to-turn-straight Brüno camps out with tough rednecks. Brüno looks up at the stars in the night sky and exclaims, "They all make me think of all the hot guys in the world." Charles simply freezes the camera for several seconds, as we all wait in horror for one of the hunters to respond. It’s both hilarious and unforgettable.

Finally, I’m only saying this once. If Jason Alper does not win an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, then they might as well retire the honor. End of story, no more discussion.

Closing Statement
I know this review suggests I was more upset with Brüno than amused. I must stress this is not the case. For all its flaws, Brüno still makes one laugh and cringe with felicity. If only it didn’t attempt to smack Borat down and go on its own path, it would have been a must-see comedy. That being said, the laughs alone are still powerful and memorable enough to warrant a recommendation by me.

The Verdict
7/10

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