Review: Bruno (2009)

[Tim Voon]

Bruno 2009
A Review by Tim Voon
1 out of 5 stars

I watch the R rated version on DVD - the version that had been
prohibited in Australian cinemas. I wish I hadn't. I was flashed a
good 30 second screen shot of Sacha Baron Cohen's penis shouting
'Bruno' and I'm still recovering from the post traumatic stress of
that frightful vision.

The main problem with BRUNO is that this mockumentary isn't as
realistic or believable as BORAT. It doesn't even come close. I
couldn't believe in the persona of BRUNO, that this was a male model
from Austria trying to make it big in the Entertainment industry in
the US. Whilst I could believe in the persona of BORAT, a good will
ambassador from Kazakhstan who had come to learn the cultural ways of
the USA.

 A lot of the situations set up for this Austrian model entertainer
seem staged and artificial and are not particularly funny. However,
one has to give some kudos for Sacha Cohen for being able to
physically transform himself into a blonde, gay model - he is
virtually unrecognisable from his Ali G and Borat personas. I also
feel that Sacha Cohen tries overly hard in this movie to try to outdo
and out shock what he achieved with Borat. I found Borat genuinely
funny in some scenarios, exposing some great flaws in the Myth that
America is the greatest nation on earth. However, the scenarios in
BRUNO are just crude and shocking for the sake of being crude and
shocking. A good example is the flapping penis waving about the
screen, screaming 'Bruno'.

Other offensive scenes include a simulated gay sex leather scene where
he is leather bound to his Austrian lover and hopping around town.
Trying to sneak into the tents of male hunters in the middle of the
night was just creepy. Trying to learn martial arts from an expert in
order to defend against gay men was silly. Serving food on a fat naked
person whilst interviewing Paula Abdul and sitting on Mexican workers
was distasteful. Not even the sing a long at the end with Bono (U2)
and Elton John could save this movie. Personally, I felt that they
looked uncomfortable on screen chirping out the words of some bizarre
song.

My main gripe with BRUNO is that I just didn't find it funny at all.

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