The Nation: Et Tu, Brüno?

[marmar]

Et Tu, Brüno?
posted by Richard Kim on 07/10/2009 @ 2:37pm


Have you ever been at a polite dinner party and heard, in an exquisitely timed moment of silence, a loud, rasping fart erupt from one of the guests? The ensuing moment is ripe--with feeling. Oh my god, did everyone just hear that? How embarrassing!--for the offender, certainly, and, weirdly, for everyone else as well. Faces flush, molting through a welter of expressions: shock, disgust, feigned ignorance, a suppressed smirk. Finally, hopefully, someone breaks the discomfort with a cackle, and the anxiety is swept away with a hearty shared laugh.

Watching Brüno, the British comic Sacha Baron Cohen's latest mockumentary, is a lot like experiencing that après-fart moment, except it lasts for an excruciating ninety minutes in which the viewer is kept constantly teetering between incredulity, mortification and laughter. It is unpleasant, almost physically painful to watch and also, at times, irresistibly funny. Brüno is a gas!

It is also a whole lot of ass, nipple and cock, especially cocks, which in Brüno come in a variety of forms: flesh and prosthetic, soft and hard, mechanical and human. That's because Brüno is, among other things, Cohen's send-up of gay male culture. Like his other alter-egos, Ali G and Borat, Brüno is an exaggeration of an already exaggerated stereotype, in this case, of a gay Austrian fame whore who, having lost his job as a fashion correspondent for the TV program "Funkyzeit," embarks on an odyssey to become "the biggest Austrian superstar since Hitler."

Cohen plays Brüno with absolute conviction, as someone utterly genuine about his superficiality, which is to say that Brüno is completely unconvincing as an actual human being, except, of course, to the parade of celebrities, politicians, preachers, agents and just folks Cohen punks along the way. Hence one level of transferred embarrassment cum laughter; you just can't believe so many people were so wholly duped by so obvious a fabrication--and on camera too! .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/450642/et_tu_bruno

[Cant trust em]

1. Sacha Baron Cohen is a comic genius.

Borat was incomparably brilliant and I am really looking forward to Bruno.

[Buzz Clik]

3. I thought Borat was very funny. However, ....

I was in Kazakhstan, and just about every young person I talked to wanted to know about the movie that their government had banned. "Is it funny?"

Shit. Try explaining how Borat potrays these people as ignorant, filthy poor, backwards, and often perverted while explaining how you thought it was funny. ugh. I eventually told them that Borat's Kazakhstan was nothing at all like the real country; it was a silly farce designed for Americans who know nothing of their land. That was pretty easy for them to believe.

[inna]

7. i thought it was absolutely horrible.

i was actually very disappointed, because i was a HUGE fan of Cohen's HBO show. i'd laugh literally to tears when i was watching him on HBO, so i was really looking forward to seeing Borat. it's not that i don't get this sort of humor, it's just that i thought the movie was really bad. :shrug:

[monmouth]

2. I have not read one good review about this movie. I'm thinking save your money..n/t

[Lost-in-FL]

6. I have not read a good review either.

I might wait before I venture out to watch this movie.

[WCGreen]

9. I look at his schtick as a very rude version of Candid Camera....

I guess it's a generational thing. My nephew loves this stuff...

[MessiahRp]

8. Read Roger Ebert's review. He gave it 3 1/2 out of 4 stars.

RottenTomatoes.com has generally given it positive reviews as well.

Rp

[azmouse]

4. Cohen is as funny as a tooth ache.

:puke:

[Mojambo]

5. Borat was an A. This is a B-

Still very much worth the time, IMHO.

[inna]

10. how interesting -

After viewing a rough cut, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation asked Cohen to film an postscript stressing the importance of gay rights and tolerance, and the Human Rights Campaign implored Universal Pictures to "remind the viewing public right there in the theater that this is intended to expose homophobia."

well, apparently, he refused for some reason. wtf?... :shrug:

[Mojambo]

12. Having seen the film I'd say there is very little need for a post script.

The fact that this movie is intended to expose homophobia couldn't possibly be missed by the average viewer.

[RagAss]

11. Picking up where the great Andy Kaufman left off....

Only Andy was 25 years ahead of his time.

[mitchum]

13. Bruno is just a one dimensional stereotype, while Borat was more nuanced...

I really like Cohen, but Bruno is on the level of a comedy sketch character...like something from Lorne Michaels territory. Very disappointing.