My friend SammyBreeze tells the story of seeing Borat with a friend who was recovering from some major abdominal surgery. During the naked fight scene with Azamat Bagatov – or, as the initial word-of-mouth for Borat described it – “this one unbelievable effing scene” – Sammy’s friend laughed so hard he was completely incapacitated and literally feared for his life. Is there anything in Bruno that is as shockingly funny as that sequence? The answer, alas, is no, of course not, that’s a once in a lifetime moment, but hats off to Bruno for trying its best, and even coming close a few times.
Is it fair to make comparisons between the two films? Under normal circumstances, I’d make an effort to view a new project on its own terms. Hard to do here, though, as the movies, let’s face it, are basically the same. The story arc, the blending of candid and staged scenes (and the frequent inability to differentiate the two) and the shock value scenes seem, at times, like an opportunistic grab for Sacha Baron Cohen and his director, Larry Charles, to once again catch lightning in a bottle. As I learned years ago when defying the aggression of bullies, however, it is hard to get too upset when milk is shooting from your nose
I don’t know if there are any comedians working today as fully dedicated to a joke as Sacha Baron Cohen. Despite his body of work being relatively small, I feel that Cohen will be remembered alongside Richard Pryor, Peter Sellers, John Belushi, Buster Keaton, Madeline Kahn and other fearless, dead comics. I say dead comics because someone may very well kill him soon. You can’t continue to tongue kiss men, at length, inside a steel cage at a wrestling match in the heart of Red State America and expect to live long.
Of course, you should be able to do such a thing, and there is, somewhere, a thesis of old fashioned bleeding heart liberalism somewhere beneath the shocking swinging phalluses, enormous dildos and rectally decanted sparking white wine that comprise many of the startling laughs in Bruno. Cohen and company take pains, though, to challenge your preconceived notions of what is P.C. and who is displaying prejudice. We tsk along with the Richard Bey Show’s all African-American audience at Bruno’s racial insensitivity, then quickly cringe at their quick “thumbs down” and “icky faces” at a reference to Bruno’s boyfriend.
Wait a minute, am I actually being presented with a complex political scenario in the midst of this perineum-happy comedy? At times, one must question if the celebs and regular joes being sent up are, indeed, homophobic or if they are just reacting to a crazy knucklehead defying all known social norms? Like much of the best comedy, it is a comedy borne from anger – but the target of the anger is wide enough to include all of humanity, not just special interest bigots.
Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedy is, indeed, smart enough to warrant the deeper thinking of the semiotics classroom. Surely this all must mean something. Cohen’s gift is to confront us with our cultural values but make it go down as easy as possible. His chaser is comprised of shock value (helooooo genitalia!), wordplay (and if you speak even a little German, more laughs are headed your way), quality zingers and plain old silliness. Two men chained up in leather in a hotel bed? Why not make a Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium joke?
My hesitation to dub this a comedy classic stems mostly from the towering shadow of Borat. Bruno is decidedly not a sophomore slump, but it is a retread – and it fails to do anything better. (The mustache, the “Niiiiice,” the vial of gypsy tears – you can’t top that.) The cheap shots at dummy celebs and politicians and stage mothers and airheaded publicists all get solid laughs, but I feel like Sacha Baron Cohen can move past this. I want to see him focus his enormous comic gifts in what I’ll ineloquently call “a real movie.”
Ratings:
Overall: B+
Vitals:
Release Date: July 10, 2009
Studio: Universal
Director: Larry Charles
Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen, Ron Paul, Alice Evans, Trishelle Cannatella, Sandra Seeling, Ben Youcef
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: R
