Ok, so I'm a hypocrite. Not long ago, I said that I thought Bruno looked dumb. I gave into peer pressure and went to see it anyway.
I was wrong--it's pretty damn funny. There were a number of scenes in it that had me howling with laughter. And maybe I'm just hard to shock, but I didn't find it nearly as gross or graphic as I'd heard. It's not for kids (or conservative adults) obviously, but I disagree with all the critics who claimed it's in NC-17 territory.
While I can understand gay rights groups being upset at some of Bruno's behavior, I thought the movie ridiculed homophobes more than it pandered to them. They end up looking like complete morons by the end of the movie.
Is it as good as Borat? No, but Borat is pretty hard to top. The dialogue was hysterical and his victims were caught completely off guard. There's some of that in Bruno, but not as much. Admittedly, it must be harder to do after the last movie, since so many people know who he is.
The movie does have its downsides. A number of sequences fall flat or are only mildly amusing (eg, the swinger party). It also feels short, disjointed, and somewhat incomplete. Borat, despite being a series of sketches at its core, at least felt like a full-length movie with some semblance of a plot. Bruno, not so much.
The "ethical" debate is also there--is it really fair to trick so many people through lying? Probably not, though some of it is pretty funny (how can you not laugh at Bruno telling a terrorist that bin Laden looks like a homeless Santa Claus?). How much of this was real vs. staged? I have no idea.
Overall, Bruno certainly has its moments (at least if your taste is as outrageously bad as mine), but I recommend catching it on video instead of seeing it at the theater.
6/10
Thanks for the review ... I'll wait for video release : )
ReplyDeleteI thought the idea for "Borat" (and evidently "Bruno" as well) was so original and clever.
Politically correct German education officials have ordered a character called Bruno in a new children's book to be renamed Aydan.
ReplyDeleteOfficials in Hamburg were reportedly unhappy at having a character with the same name as Sacha Baron Cohen's Nazi-praising Austrian journalist Bruno.
They also wanted something that would not offend the Muslim community, and so chose the Turkish name Aydan.
They have also demanded that more Muslim characters be put in and that women have equal character status as men in the stories and said that disabled people must also feature in the book.
The book, The Adventures of Aydan, is described as "an attempt to bring dull topics such as politics and democracy closer to kids".
Hello,
I am a British artist and writer living in the mountains of Granada, Southern Spain.
I have just found on the internet the the news item above and I am concerned because I have recently written and illustrated two children's books which have just been published in the USA. They are innocent little tales and it was never my intention that they should cause offence to anyone.
However, like the German book, the hero in one of them, The Wise Old Boar, is called Bruno. When I named him, I had never heard of Sacha Baron Cohen's character. Also, it never occurred to me that the fact that Bruno is a boar might offend the Muslim community. In the mountains where I live they are very common animals.
Does this mean my book will be banned?
Will a fatwah be issued against me?
To support my innocence I can email you the pdf file of the book.
Help!
Margaret Merry
I wanted to see Bruno because my family is Austrian and most still live there.
ReplyDeleteHis German sucks ass, and he mixes it up with a lot of English words. I think it's funny when he includes Hitler jokes, as he is Jewish.
But I still thought it was funny overall. Especially since he tricked a lot of people to do interviews with him. It may not be right, but it certainly was funny.
It also just goes to show how gullible people are when it comes to promoting themselves. Ron Paul's people obviously did not do their research.
Good review! I'm now actually tempted to see this in the theater, but think I'll still wait for the DVD.
ReplyDelete