Brüno, the latest film by Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen, opened yesterday. Ten of my nearest-and-dearest went with me to the Epicentre Theaters (my favorite), had a couple of drinks, and watched the 80-minute shockfest unfold before us.
It was quite the experience. Don’t read further if you want to see the film without having some of the gags spoiled for you.
I really enjoyed Borat, and so I was very excited to see the semi-sequel. If you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard about Brüno yet, here’s the basic premise: a flamboyant gay Austrian celebrity, known for his outrageous fashion television show, suffers a tragically public fall from grace and comes to the United States to start fresh.
As with Borat, the humor is meant to come from seeing someone who is so different from us, interacting with everyday people in America. And as with Borat, the best gags aren’t the outrageous behavior of the lead character, but the absurd reactions of Americans who think this is a documentary and aren’t in on the joke.
The character of Borat was ignorant and foolish, but it was FAKE, played by a very talented (and committed) actor. The everyday people he encountered were even more entertaining, precisely because they weren’t pretending or following a script.
As a character, Brüno is far less engaging. We can empathize with Borat, at least, because to a degree we pity his ignorance. He may be irritating and strange, but he can’t help it, and there’s a good heart buried underneath that bad mustache. Brüno takes his schtick (ultra-gay, with a funny accent and lots of gay sex jokes) and squeezes every last bit of humor out of it.
It’s not that I was offended by the extremes of his stereotypical far-extreme gay behavior. I wasn’t — I tend to find extremely “flaming” behavior absurd and funny anyway. But I definitely thought they tried too hard for shock value — the very explicit gay sex scenes were way too over the top. The film doesn’t miss an opportunity to show wild, kinky, dangerous gay sex, and even has a talking penis at one point. (It defies description.)
When the lights came up after the movie, a guy behind me said to the girl with him, “That was my first gay porn.” Ouch.
What was really surprising about Brüno was how LITTLE reaction the character got out of most of the people he encountered. In general, people just stared, surprised and uncomfortable.
There’s a scene in which he’s out camping with three redneck hunters in the woods, and they silently ignore his increasingly-vulgar gay behavior with a patience that amazes me. I’m a gay man, and I would’ve smacked that fool HOURS before one of them finally lost his temper and actually raised his voice.
Brüno goes to the Middle East to try to broker a peace deal between Israel and Palestine. What’s shocking isn’t the ridiculous ways in which he attempts to solve this problem — it’s the list of respectable and highly-placed leaders from academic institutions, political parties, and even terrorist groups that are interviewed. The fact that they agree to sit with this man in the first place, much less maintain their composure during his shenanigans, is impressive.
There are two celebrity scenes that just amazed me — one, in which Paula Abdul suffers through a humiliating (though brief) interview with Brüno, just made me feel bad for her. She tried to maintain her dignity, but frankly, she should’ve left the moment she walked into the room. Immigrant workers had been paid to kneel on their hands and knees to serve as furniture, and Paula is actually talked into sitting on one of them while discussing her joy of helping people. I can’t bring myself to tell you what Brüno does to push her over the edge and out of the room.
The other was an interview with Ron Paul, the politician and former candidate for President. Determined to become famous at all costs, Brüno decides to make a sex tape, and Ron Paul is the lucky partner he selects. Told he’d be doing an interview on Austrian economics, Mr. Paul is lured into a bedroom and subjected to an ever-increasing level of flirtation. He finally gives up and storms out when Brüno’s pants come off, with some angry words to his assistant (unfortunately on camera) about the “queer” back there in the room.
The funniest parts of Brüno are when the “extras” dutifully react to Brüno’s antics right away, without requiring him to escalate the madness just to get a rise out of them. When you can observe the everyday Americans emphasizing their own stereotypes, without being needlessly provoked beyond anyone’s tolerance, the culture clashes are terrific.
There’s a scene in which he’s on a talk show, with a predominantly African American audience, and they are obligingly outraged by his comments about adopting a black baby and finding “Mr. Right.” They hoot and holler and shriek, “What?!” on cue, and it reminds us of the silly (and usually staged) talk shows that we’re used to seeing. (Think “Jerry Springer” with a flamingly gay guest that’s determined to shock the audience.)
Brüno at one point goes to see a Christian minister who specializes in helping gay men find Jesus and return to heterosexuality. I had mixed feelings about this scene — the guy was genuinely trying to help, in his own way, but I couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of his Christian propaganda. (I’m biased against typical Evangelical messages, though, so keep that in mind.) Still, he handled Brüno’s behavior with some amount of tact, which I definitely respected.
I couldn’t help but snicker over the public relations “experts” that specialize in celebrity charitable actions. You’ve probably seen the clip of the two blonde girls staring blankly at him when he comments on the popularity of championing the cause in Darfur and looks ahead to the next big thing, Darfive. That’s typical of the interaction he has with them, and they’re definitely the joke in the scene.
The cage match at the end has apparently been quite the sensation, as it was actually filmed at a fighting match in Arkansas, with the audience being none-the-wiser. I won’t spoil it, other than to say that the redneck white trash audience gets a performance totally unlike what they expected, and their reaction is both completely expected and absolutely priceless.
Most shocking to me, though, was a scene in which Brüno is casting babies for a photo shoot. He lines up parents of infant actors one by one, asking them a series of questions about what the baby would be comfortable with. The scenarios get more and more dangerous and offensive, and the eager parents agree to each one in turn. I can only hope that this was fake, as if those are real parents consenting to their children being photographed with dead or dying animals, operating heavy equipment, and losing 10 pounds of body weight (for a 30-pound baby) or suffering through liposuction to get the part, then these parents need to have their children removed from their care.
Brüno as a movie is at times offensive, at times gross, but at other times it’s hysterical. I wish the script hadn’t called for quite so much shock value, and instead had been able to focus on the people around Brüno reacting to less extreme provocation. This film doesn’t have quite the genius (and certainly not the social commentary) that Borat did, but it’s worth a viewing. If you can tolerate not being “in the know” on what will certainly be an unforgivable year of young men quoting Brüno, wait for it on DVD.
Definitely have a few drinks and see it with boisterous friends, though. This is a movie where your company and state of mind are essential to your enjoyment.
good review.
I haven’t seen it yet, but Christopher said as a gay man, he was deeply offended.
[...] once they realized it wasn’t a staged stunt like last year’s Eminem confrontation with Brüno. Not long after, Twitter blew up with famous people condemning him for his [...]