Bruno
I think it's safe for anyone to assume after watching Bruno that comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen should probably try to find a new line of work after this movie. It's not that I don't think he's talented, or that I want him to stop making movies. I just can't imagine there are any more envelopes he can push, any more boundaries he can cross, or any more people he can try to offend. He covers all the bases here, and the end result is a movie you're probably not ready for. Despite what I had read or heard in advance, I know I wasn't. And that's what I loved about this movie.
I laughed a lot watching Bruno, even if I wasn't always proud of myself for doing so. But, that's the whole point. Cohen reunites with his Borat director, Larry Charles, and has created a comedy so raw, it made me question many times while watching it where the R-rating ends and where the NC-17 begins. The MPAA certainly doesn't seem to know. Despite what the description of the film's rating states, I don't think children should be allowed to watch this, even with an accompanying adult. Film critic Roger Ebert has for years stated that there should be an "Adult" rating, since studios seem to be completely opposed to labeling their films anything harder than an R for financial reasons. NC-17 is treated like a kiss of death in Hollywood, so they bend over backwards and sometimes argue with the rating board to get the lesser rating. This means that a relatively tame movie, such as Away We Go, shares the same rating as something like this. There needs to be a better system in order to separate the tamer adult movies (which would be R), from the harder films (which would be "Adult"). NC-17 isn't working, obviously, since no one wants to use it, so there has to be a rating that filmmakers are actually willing to implement.
Okay, time to get off my soapbox and talk about why the movie does work. Bruno himself is another creation of Cohen's from his days on The Ali G Show. He's a flamboyantly gay (putting it mildly) fashion expert from Austria, and host of a TV show devoted to what's hot and not in the fashion and celebrity world. The opening moments revolve around Bruno giving us a guided tour of his life. We see him on the job, we see him at home, and we see his sex life with his gay pygmy lover. Bruno's world is shattered when he has an unfortunate incident at a fashion show while wearing a suit made entirely out of Velcro. It's a great bit of slapstick comedy, and Cohen pulls it off so well, he makes it look effortless. Unfortunately, the incident makes Bruno out to be a laughing stock of the fashion world, and he is fired from his job, as well as losing everything he has, including the pygmy. Since he has been disgraced in his native land, Bruno decides to head to America in order to become a celebrity. He's accompanied by his assistant, Lutz (Gustaf Hammaresten), and an off camera film crew who document his journey for fame.
Much like Borat, the plot is just an excuse to hang a series of sequences where Cohen and the filmmakers can skewer American values and beliefs with a satirical knife, and then pour salt on the open wound. The movie is staged like a documentary, following Bruno and his attempts to be famous, and the reaction of the people around him to his outrageous antics. Some of the sequences are staged, but many are real, and are the result of just throwing this Bruno character into real world situations, with people who don't know who this person is or what the heck is going on. Victims in the movie include former Presidential candidate Ron Paul (who enters a hotel room with Bruno under the impression he is to be interviewed, only to discover that Bruno wishes to film a sex tape with him), Christian pastors who believe they can cure gays, rednecks, the military, Paula Abdul, and pretty much the entire state of Arkansas by the look of it. There are moments where you actually fear for Cohen's safety in some of the situations he puts his character in. An example is a subplot concerning Bruno obtaining an African baby (whom he names "O.J."), whom he purchased by swapping an iPod. He takes the baby and tells his story on a talk show which is staged, but the audience is not in on the joke. They think the show and Bruno's story is real, and their disgust and rage is genuine to the point that they're almost attacking the stage.
The fun of the movie is seeing just how far the filmmakers will go, and trying to figure out which sequences are real and which are staged. The movie's been set up so well, it's sometimes hard to tell. Bruno himself is a great comic character, and Cohen uses him well in every situation he puts the character in. He could have easily been a one-note character, but the movie fleshes him out to a certain degree. He's so desperate to be known in America, he's willing to do anything. As this movie shows, he's not alone. There's a shocking sequence where he interviews a series of parents about a possible photo shoot, and we get see how far the parents are willing to go to get their babies into the shoot, despite the fact that Bruno describes the content of the shoot. (It's to be a photo of a baby dressed as a Nazi pushing a wheelbarrow holding a Jewish baby into an oven.) The sequence was most likely edited for best effect, but I had a sinking feeling that it was all too real as I saw a mother willingly agreeing to the idea of letting her baby be liposuctioned in order to lose 10 pounds. The movie puts such a dark and twisted spin on the "15 minutes of fame" idea that you are all at once intrigued and appalled.
See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!
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