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303 comments in total

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318 out of 531 people found the following comment useful :-
Outrageous fun, 22 June 2009

Author: chicandcheerful from United Kingdom

I was lucky enough to win tickets to the premiere and spent the entire movie alternating between HUGE belly laughs and covering my eyes in disbelief. If you didn't like Borat, you are unlikely to enjoy this one either as there is a lot of nudity (including one memorable shot of a talking.... body part), profanity and taking the mickey out of: a) rednecks b) fashionistas c) F-list celebrities (and a few A-listers too; remember, children are not an accessory. Unless they're cute. 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.

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149 out of 235 people found the following comment useful :-
Bruno crosses the line into "awkward viewing" territory, ultimately alienating the viewers it's trying the hardest to reach., 9 July 2009

Author: flowersflix from United States

Three years have passed since the release of Cohen's critically acclaimed Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Notable for it's extremely offensive brand of humor, Borat also brought something to theaters that was rightly labeled as revolutionary–a candidly thorough skewering of contemporary America (especially the notion of cultural tolerance). It's 2009, and Cohen has now unleashed Bruno, a film that sets its sights specifically on two things: America's pervasive, nearly insatiable obsession with stardom and–as you may have guessed–its perceptions/treatment of the homosexual community.

Even though Borat is shockingly crude, it is also easily accessible (and, I must say, consistently hilarious). Bruno is a different beast altogether. It crosses the line into "awkward viewing" territory, ultimately alienating the viewers it's trying the hardest to reach.

The plot of Bruno is similar to that of Borat. The self-proclaimed Austrian fashion icon is fired from his position as the host of a prominent television show, and decides that in order to retain his fame he must travel to the U.S. Naturally, his first stop, along with this quiet, straight-laced assistant, is Los Angeles. Once there, he hires an agent and tries to work his way up the Hollywood totem pole.

From the very beginning, we're bombarded with the sort of humor we've come to expect from Cohen: over the top, quirky, cause-you-to-squirm interplay with people who aren't in on the joke. And, of course, a lot of nudity. If you were one of the people who wasn't quite able to stomach Borat, then I heartily recommend that you stay away from Bruno. The movie takes the term "crude humor" to an all new level–one scene even has Bruno visiting a swinger's party (I'll leave the rest up to your imagination). Though this is certainly enough to put-off casual moviegoers, there are some genuinely serious moments in the film that warrant at least one viewing. Just as the gross-out humor is ratcheted up a notch here, so is the revelation of just how appalling the general populace can be.

At one point Bruno is interviewing mothers who are hoping to enter their infants into a photo shoot. The desperation on these mothers' faces is stomach-turning; this is essentially a stronger dose of the stuff that made Borat so revolutionary. He asks one mother, "How much does your child weigh?" The mother's response: "30 lbs." Bruno: "Could he lose, like, 10 lbs. by next week?" The mother: "Oh, yes. That's no problem." In the same scene, he tells another mother: "In this photo, your child will be hanging on a cross. Are you okay with your baby being crucified?" The mother: "Yes. My baby can be crucified." One mother even agrees to allow Bruno to dress up her toddler as Adolf Hitler, who will be pushing a wheelbarrow (containing another baby) toward an oven. As wretched as much of the humor is, these scenes are the ones that stand out as truly horrifying. If you can brave all of the undeniably gross comedy, you'll find a worthwhile subtext here–one that's much darker than that of Borat.

It's a difficult trade-off, though. Because, quite frankly, Bruno just isn't as funny as Borat.

Remember the scene in Borat where our lovable protagonist is finally reunited with his producer? They enter his motel room in L.A., and, amidst casual discussion, the refrigerator is opened, allowing us to see the severed head of the bear that had "escaped." That type of humor is almost completely absent from Bruno. Instead, you've got a lot of awkward scenarios. Some of them are laugh-till-you choke funny. Others–not so much. Overall, the comedy in Bruno is a mixed bag, but if you can handle oodles of humor that's beyond tasteless, you'll find that the gags that work just barely outweigh the ones that don't.

After Borat, the message here shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but it's still amazing– and deeply depressing–to see how soulless and greedy people can be. It's just too bad Cohen couldn't reach his audience in a more accessible manner.

Check out more of my reviews at: www.flowersflix.com

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184 out of 308 people found the following comment useful :-
I had prepared myself for this film..., 8 July 2009

Author: rogue_eagle from New Zealand

I expected there to be a high level of gay and crude sexual jokes in this latest Sacha Baron Cohen adventure. Then the movie took it 2 steps further than anything I had prepared myself for.

The result; a lot of uneasy moments, a lot of uncontrollable laughing, and some putting my hands over my face in disbelief or disgust. The humour in the film is clearly that of in-your-face slapstick, however given the extremes the film goes to, it's all relatively entertaining. 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. Humanities finest moments certainly aren't on display here. Go see it with a few mates or drinking buddies and have fun, though you may exit the cinema a little more disturbed than when you went in.

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175 out of 296 people found the following comment useful :-
For those asking how the shock effect of 'Borat' could be topped..., 10 July 2009

Author: nosiesnetnieuws from Maastricht, Netherlands

Brüno is a gay Austrian fashion reporter impersonated by the man that notoriously starred as Borat in... Borat.

(For those that have seen Borat: you probably know what to expect. If you did not like Borat for the painfully explicit content, stay away from Brüno. If you almost died of laughter during a certain hotel scene in Borat, go see Brüno immediately and prepare for almost certain death.)

Obviously, having made Borat, the producers of Brüno had a hard time to repeat the surprise effect. It should therefore not come as a surprise that the movie contains substantially less confrontations between the main character and innocent (famous) bystanders. Still, confrontations with a number of people, among which a few famous ones, seem sincere, and work on multiple levels, as in Borat. 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. For others, the never-ending provoked racism of Borat will have a longer-lasting impact.

All I know is that I laughed a lot during this movie. It will once again lead to lots of controversy and imitation at thousands of workplaces around the globe. Maybe it is therefore best if you know what it is about.

But be warned. If you are easily offended, you will be offended. Majorly.

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101 out of 158 people found the following comment useful :-
Watch the trailers, then stay at home, 13 July 2009

Author: demeyer-1 from London, UK

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I watched the trailers and thought they were incredibly funny. But packed into those few minutes you will find all the best scenes from the film, and there's very little worth watching in the remainder.

So yes, the film is shocking and pushes the boundaries (again) quite a bit further. And yes, it ridicules our society's obsession with celebrity status. But that in itself isn't enough to make it a good film. Bad acting and a terrible story line remain bad acting and a terrible storyline, even if it has been done on purpose (of which I am not even certain). In any case, it gives the film the doubtful qualities of a cheap 70s porn film.

So what about the humour? Baron-Cohen has always looked for comedy in breaking the boundaries of social convention, and with Ali G and Borat that was often to great comic effect. But not so much in Bruno: cheap shock effect and trying to heap even more embarrassment on his victims appear to have been the main recipes of the film. It doesn't even work anymore: he's now so ridiculous that everyone storms out within the first minute. Porn scenes with a pygmy flight attendant, overacted dancing, a swinging penis (didn't we see that in EuroTrash yeeeears ago?), lowering your trousers in front of a US presidential candidate... it may be funny to some, to me it just stinks.

By the time it came to scenes that *could* have been funny (like the day-time television talk show) - I had properly tuned out, and much of its potential fun was lost on me.

My advice: watch the trailers, laugh your head off, then just be happy with the idea of a brilliant film that could have been, but wasn't made. If you do go, be prepared for disappointment, lots of cringing and the hohoho-type nervous laughter of embarrassment.

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60 out of 87 people found the following comment useful :-
Underwhelming, 17 July 2009

Author: RussianPaul from United States

I just saw it and I was a bit let down. I am gay, I love Cohen, and was ready to laugh. But the problem was he didn't expose any under-the-surface bigotry like he did in Borat. He overdid his "gayness" to such a violent extreme that he forced reactions out of people, some of whom are probably plenty openminded. You ended feeling sorry for these people.

Especially Ron Paul, who out of all the politicians Cohen could have chosen, deserved it the least. He's no champion of gay rights, but he is certainly not an enemy either and he reacted like any normal person would in that nightmarish situation. 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. This was just an exercise in bad taste (which is fine, if that's what you're looking for).

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66 out of 102 people found the following comment useful :-
Humor that hurts, 13 July 2009

Author: Kristine (kristinedrama14@msn.com) from Chicago, Illinois

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Now I want to get one thing straight, I really wanted to love this movie, Sacha Baron Cohen is a consistently funny and shocking comedian that takes the most absurd characters putting them into situations that not only make people uncomfortable but react in a way that makes you laugh so hard that it makes your stomach hurt. After seeing the trailer for Brüno, I don't think I even need to say this, everyone wanted to see where Sacha would go after Borat and Brüno looked like an incredibly funny movie. I consider myself a liberal person, I don't mind the "shock" humor of today, but my problem with this movie is that it's hurting more than harmless humor. I have a few homosexual friends who are struggling to be taken seriously in life and this movie is honestly setting them back. My thing is that if Sacha had a message in the film vs. just mocking not just a country but other people, the film would have worked a lot better.

Gay Austrian fashion reporter Brüno is fired from his show after disrupting a catwalk show during Fashion week. Accompanied by his assistant's assistant Lutz, he travels to the United States to become a superstar. After a pilot of a celebrity interview show bombs with a test audience, he attempts to become famous via various other methods. In an attempt to create a sex tape, he arranges an interview with Ron Paul, and while the two wait for a staged technical problem to be fixed, Brüno starts hitting on Paul. He consults PR consultants to select a world problem he can tackle to maximize his fame with a minimum of effort. He flies to Jerusalem where he interviews former Mossad agent Yossi Alpher and Palestinian politician Ghassan Khatib in which Brüno asks silly questions and gets kicked out of the country. On a TV talk show hosted by Richard Bey, he shows the African American audience a Black baby named O.J., whom he acquired in Africa by swapping him for an iPod. The audience is appalled. Social Services take the boy away from Brüno, driving him into severe depression. After realizing that the biggest names in Hollywood are straight, Brüno consults two Christian gay converters to become heterosexual.

Brüno is Borat with a different character, it seems like Sacha is just relying on shock over actual humor now. Although I'm actually curious what the unrated DVD is going to look like because this might as well have been a porno. For God's sake they have a scene that Brüno goes to a swinger's party and there is just full frontal, back, side, everything you can imagine in a porno is in this scene. Not to mention there's a sex scene in the beginning with Brüno and his boyfriend that is just plain disturbing that involves a bike connected to a dildo that pleasures Brüno while his boyfriend exercises and it's a bit much for most to handle. Then Brüno speaks to a "gay converter" to become straight that was just over the top offensive not just from Brüno's lines but also the leader of this group who clearly is hiding behind God's skirt. Now if this is your kind of humor, honestly, I'm not sure if I'd want to know you because this is the humor that is more stupid and hurts people vs. just having fun. I wouldn't really recommend for people to run out and watch this trash, I hate to say it, Brüno was too offensive and that's saying a lot from me considering that I thought Borat was hilarious.

2/10

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76 out of 129 people found the following comment useful :-
Oh Bruno, Bruno..., 11 July 2009

Author: marcosaguado from Los Angeles, USA

I laughed until it ached. I was exhausted after the 80 odd minutes were over but didn't stay with me the way that Borat did. Borat was unquestionably fresher - if you can call it that - the horrible surprise was a one off situation. Bruno is a priceless creation but somehow the pranks are already part of the audience's expectation. A talking penis or Ron Paul trapped in a sex film are things we're not about to see anywhere else anytime soon and that's were the power of this new Sacha Baron Cohen shocking, hilarious opus resides. He is an irresistible, shameless, fearless genius. He knows exactly where the corpses are buried and he digs them up in the most unexpected way. The charity girls, the army guys, Paula Abdul sitting on a Mexican worker. Awful and very funny, very funny indeed.

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27 out of 36 people found the following comment useful :-
Loved Borat, Hated Bruno, 18 July 2009

Author: chucknorrisfacts

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

In 2006, I went to see a movie called "Borat" and found myself completely caught off guard for the hilarity that ensued. I thought it was easily one of the funniest movies I had ever seen, and I still think that.

However, it left high expectations for whatever Sacha Baron Cohen would do next. When I first learned of the premise of "Bruno" I thought the concept was likely to be very humorous, but I was surprised when it wasn't.

Amongst theatergoers (myself included) there was only scattered, uncomfortable laughter. Not like "Borat", where the audience was practically in stitches the whole time.

The plot was pretty thin. In fact, I'd say they just threw something together to hang the "gags" on. I was left supremely disappointed, and won't be recommending "Bruno" to anyone.

Skip it!

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39 out of 63 people found the following comment useful :-
Stupid, 17 July 2009

Author: pptartsrgud from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I saw this movie the first day it came out. It was terrible. The trailers show all the funny parts. The Swingers Club was terrifying. I don't know how people thought this was funny. Half the theater left before the movie was over. Yeah, Sacha pushed the boundary farther than Borat, but this movie was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. Bruno should be taken out of the theaters and be X rated.

I felt like the guy who shot himself during the Watchmen. The sex scenes were mortifiying. The racial and religious slurs were horrible. I was actually offended by it. References to Hitler were also distasteful.

As previously stated, the only funny parts are shown on the trailers. The rest of the movie was very, very boring.

If I were homosexual, I'd be offended by this crappy movie.

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