Brüno
Tags: bleak, satire, entertaining, adult comedy, queer

Plot synopsis:
Gay Austrian fashion reporter Brüno Gehard is fired from his own television show, Funkyzeit mit Brüno (Funkytime with Brüno) after disrupting a Milan Fashion week catwalk (whose audience included Paul McCartney), and his lover Diesel leaves him for another man. Accompanied by his assistant's assistant, Lutz, he travels to the United States to become "the biggest gay Austrian celebrity since Hitler".
Brüno unsuccessfully attempts an acting career as an extra on NBC's Medium. He then interviews Paula Abdul, using "Mexican chair-people" in place of furniture (Abdul goes along with everything, explaining how she aspires to help people, until a naked man, adorned with sushi, is wheeled into the room). He then produces a celebrity interview pilot, showing him dancing erotically, criticizing Jamie Lynn Spears' fetus with reality TV star Brittny Gastineau, unsuccessfully attempting to "interview" actor Harrison Ford, and closing with a close-up of his penis being swung around by pelvic gyrations. A focus group reviewing the pilot hate it, calling it "worse than cancer". Brüno then decides to make a sex tape, thus he then interviews Ron Paul, claiming to have mistaken him for drag queen RuPaul. While waiting in a hotel room with Paul, Brüno flirts with him before undressing, causing Paul to leave angrily and call him "queerer than the blazes".
Brüno consults a spiritualist to contact the deceased Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli for advice, miming various sex acts on the invisible "Pilatus". He consults charity PR consultants Nicole and Suzanne DeFosset to select a world problem to maximize his fame, choosing the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He flies to Jerusalem to interview former Mossad agent Yossi Alpher and Palestinian politician Ghassan Khatib and confuses hummus and Hamas. In an interview with Israeli and Palestinian professors he sings his own "Dove of Peace" while cajoling the two to caress each other's hands. He also meets with Ayman Abu Aita, a "terrorist group leader, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades" in a location described as a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, where he hopes to be kidnapped. Brüno insults Abu Aita's hair then says that "King Osama" looks like a dirty wizard or a homeless Santa Claus. Abu Aita's translator orders Brüno to leave. He stops off in Nairobi to pick up a few things, including a child, saying he is "black gold".
Brüno interviews parents of child models, asking if their toddlers would be ready to lose weight, undergo liposuction, operate "antiquated heavy machinery" or "amateur science", or dress in Nazi uniforms. On a talk show hosted by Richard Bey, he shows the African American audience a baby he named O.J., whom he acquired in Africa by "swapping him" for a U2 Product Red iPod. He shows photographs of the boy covered with bees, on a crucifix and in a Jacuzzi next to adults in a 69 position. The audience is appalled and social services take the baby from Brüno, driving him to depression. He goes to a diner to gorge on high-carb junk food. Lutz carries him back to a hotel room. After a night of sex, they awake to find themselves trapped in a bondage mechanism, unable to find the key. They call a hotel engineer for help and are asked to leave. After accosting a group of anti-gay protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church while still in bondage gear and boarding a bus, Brüno and Lutz remove their equipment at Madison County Office of Alternative Sentencing and Release in Huntsville, Alabama. After being arrested, Lutz says he loves Brüno, but Brüno tells him he does not love him, having been influenced by "carb goggles". Lutz leaves Brüno.
After realizing the biggest names in Hollywood are straight (citing Tom Cruise, Kevin Spacey, and John Travolta), Brüno consults two Christian gay converters to help him become heterosexual. He attempts activities, such as learning karate, joining the National Guard, going hunting in Alabama, and attending a swingers party at which he is whipped by a dominatrix.
Eight months later, a now-heterosexual Brüno, under the alias "Straight Dave", hosts a cage-fight match in Arkansas, "Straight Dave's Man Slammin' Maxout". Lutz appears at the event and calls Brüno a "faggot". The two fight, only to rekindle their love, making out and stripping in front of the shocked spectators who throw objects into the cage. The clip gets international press and the now-famous Brüno attempts to marry Lutz and gets O.J. back in exchange for a MacBook Pro. Brüno records a charity song, "Dove of Peace", featuring Bono, Elton John (seated at a piano on a Mexican "chair-person"), Chris Martin, Snoop Dogg, Sting, and Slash, at Abbey Road Studios.

Review: Both movies follow basically the same formula: A crazy, super exaggerated walking stereotype played by Sacha Baron Cohen goes to America, getting involved in wacky antics and meeting some celebrities along the way, often in front of real unsuspecting crowds.
There were also some genuine bigots in the film, but Cohen goes to such an extreme to provoke them, by the time it gets to that point, who cares?There were funny moments, of course, Cohen is a funny man, but this movie lacks the bite Borat had.
Needless to say, the comedic sequences are over the top (which is to be expected in a movie lead by Sacha Baron Cohen) but I found most of it hilarious, even overall funnier than 'Borat'.
Like Borat, all of the genuine laughs are in everyday peoples reactions, rather than the poorly structured story or scripted scenes.That said, it was a challenge of how much one could handle, and I wouldn't have minded if they had left out a particular full frontal shot of the male anatomy spinning around (an image that will stay with me for some time and probably haunt my dreams).
It's not a movie I could really get 'comfortable' with watching, seeing all hell unravel in a variety of situations one after another with very little in the way of breaks, but time did go by relatively quickly, which helps given the intensity of the scenes.It's not a film for the faint of heart, and definitely has more potential to offend than Borat ever did, though for the more open minded among us who aren't so easily offended, you may find some enjoyment in this film.
Or match your outfit.) d) terrorists (yes, really, don't know how Sasha got out of that one alive)I loved the movie and although some of the scenes worked better than others, for sheer inventiveness, audacity and brilliant ad-lib comedy, Baron Cohen remains at the top of his game..
The brilliant satirist Sacha Baron Cohen in Larry Charles' Bruno takes the story of a Gay Austrian fashionista seeking to become a celebrity in the U.S. and stretches it to its logical conclusion and then extends it - way beyond.
While satire in film is not supposed to be a comfortable experience and is supposed to make you squirm and even at times hide your eyes, it is not supposed to make you want to walk out.Bruno travels a thin line between what's merely outlandish and what is revolting and its in your face shamelessness comes awfully close to defeating its own purpose.
Others are clearly scripted, but not less funny for that (watch the ending credits for an example).In general, compared to Borat, Brüno focuses more on a) effectively shocking it's viewers with the (sexual) misconduct of the main character and b) stunts of this main character in front of a large audience.
Essentially, this time the shock effect is moved from the 'random' people that appear in the movie, to the audience looking at the movie.For many, it will definitely be more shocking than Borat, given the shamelessly explicit content that exploits every possibility for jokes concerning men making out.
I got free tickets to an exclusive screening of Bruno last night, I went in expecting to find it funny, but the memories of Borat, and the catchphrases that haunted me months after the movie came out still lingered.
The short run time, while questionably too short (possibly the missing Latoya Jackson interview might have made up for this), makes sure the film never outstays its welcome.Cohen truly is perfect in the movie, and also a very incredibly brave man.
Or will horrify and shock you, yet as I just said it didn't appear to do so in my audience, in fact unlike Borat (where at least 10 people walked), nobody left Bruno at all.
I went in expecting the unexpected and I gotta tell you guys, the whole thing was unexpected (with of course the exception of the scenes shown in the trailers), Bruno had me laughing non-stop from beginning to end.
Brüno is dumb, annoying, shocking, and he exaggerates to points probably not closely reached in Borat.Clearly, if you loved or simply enjoyed the humor of Borat, chances are great that some scenes will get you close to die laughing.
I haven't been able to tell people the funny parts in the movie, as I feel it will ruin it for them (but have highly recommended the flick to them to watch ASAP so we can laugh at all the funny moments together).I felt it started off a tad bit slow (and was missing the Borat-type humour!) but it picked up and it never fell!
I have came to the conclusion that these people fall into one of either two categories; A) I hate EVERYTHING POPULAR and I am a tool, or B) I would rather watch an artsy Eastern European film made with a budget of Kit-Kat proportionsand I am a tool.Sorry I realise I have released some hidden bitterness which doesn't really contribute to this review.Anyway on to the Brüno movie; this film will make you laugh, I did, everyone else did and you probably will to (unless you are a robot, which would be very cool BTW).
So you may be pondering the mediocrity of my score for it, well I guess in summery I could say that in my OPINION there are funny moments but as a movie it is not very good.Borat I loved, I don't think I have ever laughed harder at a film.
The Brüno storyline was a tad loose or to quote Borat: "like a wizard's sleeve".As it is nearing lunchtime I am going to compare films to sandwiches; to represent the beginning/goal and end/conclusion you have the bread (or ciabatta roll if you want to spoil yourself), then all the events in between act as the filling and you can have anything you like; lettuce, cheese, chicken, ham, tomato, peppers, peanut butter, jam, whatever sauce or garnish your little sandwich-loving heart desiresanything really (but not mayonnaise).
So in the end while you could enjoy brief moments of flavour from the fillings you know in your heart that you are not eating a real sandwich.So in conclusion I found Brüno funny but I just wasn't convinced that it was a good film.
It follows the same genuine formula found in Cohen's previous film, be as outrageous as possible with some slight classiness/taste and the austrian is exceptionally well at it.I really don't want to spoil anything for yall since the commercials/trailers have shown a lot but Bruno offers everything a great comedy can offer to you which in total means a great night at the movies.The only cons I can think of are some jokes fall flat but the great ones easily overshadow the bad ones.If you're easily offended by blatant nudity and controversial topics steer clear of Bruno but if you're open minded and ready to have an amazing night at the movies, I would buy your ticket for opening night ASAP.9/10.
After having seen and laughed at the TV series "Da Ali G Show" and "Ali G in da USA" and then found the Borat movie just as funny, my expectations were high.
I love the way Sacha Baron Cohen uses the characters Borat and Brüno in interviews to make ordinary people say things they normally wouldn't, either because they believe they are dealing with an idiot or because they are flattered by the attention and want to be on TV.
Since it was obvious that almost all the people he dealt with were actors, that edge was completely lost and the whole thing just became stupid.Further, in an attempt to out trump the Borat movie Sacha Baron Cohen has turned Brüno into a very (to say the least) perverted person--something this character was not before.
A cheap trick to get some laughs--which he got--but without the finesse we have previously seen in Mr Cohen's humour.In a nutshell I think the problem was that this movie was too big of a (Hollywood) production and the lawsuits from the Borat movie scarred away the artistry.
I'm sure the almost definitely deceased Kaufman is laughing his ass off wherever he is, as the big three of Cohen's creations (Ali G, Borat and Bruno), have amused and upset more people in recent years than there are stars in heaven (and in rehab).
Bruno figures most male stars are gay, so he puts one and one together and comes up with some hilarious interpretations of American attitudes towards sex and public image.The homophobia in society that makes this truly dangerous for Cohen rears it's ugly head quite often and I'm a little surprised he didn't get severely beaten (or murdered) by one or more of the bigots he encounters.
Ouch."Bruno" isn't a good thing for gays--it will just reinforce dumber viewers' homophobia, while this time SBC & Charles aren't smart enough to make the rest of us feel like that nominal target has been cleverly subverted from within.
It sure isn't a good thing for Sasha Baron Cohen, who's now gone in one leap from "Is there anything he CAN'T do?" to "Can't he do ANYTHING else?" Of course he can--he's a great comic actor in other people's movies.
I just sat through Sacha Baron Cohen's latest movie, "Bruno." (For some reason, "sat through" sounds like a better verb than "watched.") I don't like Cohen's style of movie-making, but upon seeing his mock-gay character enrolled in a National Guard boot camp in the previews, I felt that I had to go to this one.
I'm certainly not offended that Cohen ridicules our military culture, because I find it ridiculous myself - if anything, I'm offended that the several military officers featured in the movie (and the National Guard itself) failed to realize that this was a put-on.Before I even saw the film, I had read some entries from a gay and lesbian blog (shakespearessister.blogspot.com) urging a boycott of "Bruno": "Sacha Baron Cohen wants us to believe that Brüno isn't a central part of the joke, but he composed the character from spare parts of the worst gay stereotypes, promotes the film with images of the character that heavily rely on the premise that anything gay/feminine is inherently absurd, and shows up to public appearances dressed in ass-bearing glittery gold lederhosen." I'm straight and thus can't comment on the movie from a gay perspective, but the character was obviously invented to offend.
In a better movie, some commentary might have been made about this scene, but Cohen only incites emotion, not intellectual discourse.The entire conceit of Cohen's "humor" is that it's funny to watch stupid people get put through the ringer.
In some cases the irritation of the people around him is mildly entertaining and there are a few good and funny one-liners, but you really have to look for them and there is lots of space between them.Apart from that, most of the movie is completely sick.
Some parts are obviously scripted for the movie like his fashion show in the beginning and his friend whos a friend or actor but its so cool to see him talk and do these things to real people who don't know, and somehow he gets a camera guy to film them lol.
It banks on getting people to laugh at shocking situations, sorry but we saw that with "Borat", honestly if you want to watch crazy stuff like this, just go to the internet.
Although I found the movie quite funny (especially the first part) and the audience even applauded at the end, I am damn sure, that a lot of the scenes where staged and performed by actors, which somehow ruins the film.
No one in my local theater, including myself, laughed much at all--most people had showed up expecting broad satire along the lines of Borat but instead got a film that doesn't begin to understand the world of gay camp.
As many of the people he pranked likely thought, much of his antics amounted to near-pornography or straight-up pornography with black bars used to gain an R rating.I understand some of the point was to expose ignorance about homosexuality but I think Cohen as Bruno has set back that goal and created more ignorance and disrespect by being as ignorant and disrespectful as the worst homophobes or at times even worse.For the most part I would say that claiming this movie has any purpose at all other than angering and disgusting people would be giving Cohen and everyone else who helped make this movie far too much credit.For the first time in quite a while I actually seriously regret spending my money on this movie as it was a waste and subsidized a fraud..
I laughed hard throughout the entire movie -- and Director Larry Charles (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Borat) is becoming the king of stuff you can't bear to watch.That being said, Sacha Baron Cohen is a mad genius gone more mad than genius this time out.
#2) As a result, the segments are forced into becoming very short gags that are more about placing people in shocking & embarrassing situations with Bruno, rather than the way Ali G or Borat would brilliantly lead people in a direction, then just allow them to say or do things that would embarrass themselves.The end result is something that feels more like an internet viral video or Ashton Kutcher's "Punk'd", than a biting social commentary.
Everyone that has seen Bruno and told me about it gave it a bad rap.I decided to watch Bruno today to see what they are talking about but I thought it was very funny and of course it was really outrageous.It is at it's most outrageous in the first 20 minutes but if you got through that then you can handle the rest of the film.I think it deserved to be rated much higher here on IMDb but it is the second best movie that Sacha Baron Cohen has starred in after Borat.
I laughed in all the scenes of this movie and this is one of the best comedies I have ever seen.It isn't everyones taste and if you found Borat too offensive then you wont be able to handle this movie.I thought that movies couldn't get more outrageous and shocking after seeing Borat but i was wrong.I loved Bruno's accent and the dialog and everything about this movie.10/10 is my rating.
The notorious comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, whose 2006 mockumentary Borat caused a wave of controversy due to the bulk of its humour consisting of the titular character, a weird hybrid of every politically incorrect stereotype about foreigners, being set loose on unsuspecting Americans and enacting one big practical joke on everyone he meets.Brüno follows virtually the same formula, except this time Cohen plays one entirely different character - a gay Austrian fashion reporter who's obsessed with the superficial culture of fashion, celebrities and sex.
This scene did not offend me or make me laugh, it just made me think how much of an idiot Cohen is by doing such things and once again, the scene failed to make me scoff in shock at Brüno's outrageous stunt.This film felt weak, flat, dishonest and reliant on grotesque humour instead of causing social uproar and didn't focus on society's off-guard discrimination towards homosexuality which is what I thought this film was all about because that's what I saw in Borat.
You're seriously putting this trash above those classic movies in the Top 250?) *shiver* I'm going to keep it real and my words might offend some, but trust me, if you haven't yet seen this movie, my words will pale in comparison on the offensive scale.If you don't know the backstory of this movie, if you haven't seen the "Borat" film and if you don't know this Cohen guy's schtick--like I didn't--you won't get this film and you'll be shocked and confused and disgusted that you gave this loser 2 hours of your precious time and money.
I think I've seen a lot of movies like superbad or other ones that make you laugh hard, but while I can imagine watching Superbad with a silent grin I can say this is not possible for Bruno.
If some backwards guys in the woods that he goes hunting with actually fell for his character (therefore must not have heard of Borat) than that puts them so far on the edge of society that it makes their reaction predictable and erases the only value a film like Bruno could have outside of its humor.
The only thing I got out of this movie is the fact that sometimes a director can go way too far to try and make people laugh.
After all the bad reviews for Bruno, and warnings from friends it was just for shock value, I expected it wasn't going to be as funny as Borat.
I could not believe that the man behind this very funny and provoking movie would treat his audience like he's done with Bruno.
Even after so many years, I remember scenes from Borat.If you like a man's penis funny, then may be you should see a doctor instead of seeing this movie.I can go on and on about saying bad things about this movie - but why beat around the bush.D O N O T S E E T H I S M O V I E..
This movie didn't make me laugh not even one time, and don't get me wrong, I actually liked Borat, that was a funny film.
BRUNO is also very funny in a way like BORAT where you see unsuspecting people react to the most ridiculous stunts, and for the most part, the film succeeds in both areas.What's more outrageous than the stunts themselves is how people react to those stunts.