Borat was a one of a kind type movie, a truly hysterical but revealing movie. It was creative and borderline brilliant. Now, with Bruno in theaters, people are starting to wonder. Is Sacha Baron Cohen a one-trick pony? Can this possibly rival his last performance? Is it even that good? In order – yes, no, no. Cohen needs to come up with something different to revive his career, because this film was close to being a dud. If he doesn’t, then yes, he will be a one-trick pony and that’s unfortunate, because even in this movie you can see very slight flashes of hilarity. But those moments are so few and far between that you leave the theater shrugging your shoulders, not really glad you saw it.
Bruno is certainly no Borat, and the fall from grace is pretty steep. (Universal Pictures/aceshowbiz.com)
The comparisons to Borat are inevitable and diehard fans should understand that. Every great movie is going to be compared to its predecessor or a film similar to it, especially when the other movie is such an eye opener and box office smash hit. The thing about Borat that made it so damn amazing was how Cohen made his points about society, making people look stupid all by themselves. Sure, the character itself was hysterical, I mean cmon, look at him, listen to his voice. But the genius was revealing what the interviewees thought and felt, and that was spectacularly entertaining. The character of Bruno is like this movie, too over the top. It feels like Cohen is trying too hard. A gay Austrian fashionista? That’s a little much, and the character honestly didn’t provide a lot of laughs by himself.
So, if the character himself isn’t all that funny, the situations he puts people in have to be, right? Ehh, not so much. It’s a swing and a miss kind of thing in Bruno, and there might be slightly more misses this time. The main problem with this movie is the “shock value.” As I just mentioned, it just comes across like Cohen is trying too hard this time. The humor is behind the facade, behind his character, and with the stupidity he draws from people. Well, there wasn’t a lot of that, and in turn, it was like watching a 5-minute sketch 20 times in a row. It got old, and it got boring. I can count on my hand the number of scenes where he really made people look dumb, the great scenes. The best perhaps was when he interviewed children’s parents on what they would allow their kids to do. Now there, you saw some serious stupidity. Cohen didn’t have to say anything really, you laugh heartily at the parents, and that is shocking as it is funny. But that scene faded quickly into another few minutes of the movie.
It was too over the top, and the creativity in making people look awful was minimal. (Universal Pictures/aceshowbiz.com)
It wasn’t awful as there were some good scenes, but perhaps the biggest reason of why I’m giving the movie a bump up from what I was originally thinking to give it, are the balls Cohen has. I mean really, how many times could this guy have been killed. Apparently in 2006 during a promotion for Borat, he did get punched square in the face by a random guy on the street. But during the roughly 90 minutes of Bruno, he insulted a real terrorist leader, mocked Africa in front of a crowd which was mostly black, was naked in front of hunters multiple times, and the big one – the end make out scene (you can guess what it looks like I’m sure) with his “partner” Lutz in the deep south, at a wrestling event. Now, all of this stuff has got to be real, that’s Cohen’s shtick, and that’s why he’s been sued so many damn times. But they had to tell security at that wrestling event that something was going down, or else he might be dead. Impressive confidence in his craft. Or stupidity. Maybe a combo.
It wasn’t Bruno. It wasn’t even that funny by itself. It went for over the top, shock value, with substance and previous genius waiting on the back burner. I’m disappointed, but Cohen’s a talented guy, and I look forward with hope to his next on-screen appearance. But he might want to do a movie, instead of a mockumentary next time. Just a thought.
BRUNO: 
(out of 4)
Filed under: Movie review | Tagged: austria, borat, bruno, gay, mockumentary, sacha baron cohen | 1 Comment »
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