Brüno

The comparison between 'Brüno' and 'Borat' seems inevitable and even though 'Borat' tackles some relevant issues and constantly maintains its sense of very crude, offensive, outlandish and macabre humour 'Brüno' does the same but it's more toned down when compared to 'Borat'. Yet, even though the vulgarity is less in frequency when compared to 'Borat' at its crudest, 'Brüno' tops the aforementioned (hint: a swinging penis that talks). 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'. At the same time the film touches on some relevant issues for example when Brüno visits the gay converters or when he has parents audition for him to take a photograph with his kid. The movie makes fun of them but it also makes viewers aware of the existence of such people. The execution is well done. Even the score is ticklish at times. Overall, it's a hilarious little film but definitely not everyone's cup of coffee.

I remember pretending to go to sleep some nights and then waiting for my parents to go to bed. After the coast was clear I would sneak downstairs and watch HBO. One of my favorite shows, besides 'Real Sex', was 'Da Ali G Show'. I still try and catch it whenever its on now and it still is classic and timeless.

I had no idea how they were going to pull it off but I saw 'Borat' in its opening weekend and I, along with the rest of the audience, laughed from start to finish. Borat was pretty close to perfect and definitely engaging and re-watchable. It was fresh and it was nice to see a movie that did not have a tired, recycled plot.

It is hard to watch 'Bruno' without making comparisons to Bruno's first carnation on 'Da Ali G Show'. I was expecting something along the lines of Borat. I went into this film with the same hopes and expectations of 'Borat' and honestly the magic just was not there.

The beauty of 'Borat' was in the reactions of the people interviewed. People were intolerant, racist and sexist. 'Borat' was a complete study of American ignorance and a great sociological experiment.

There was ample opportunity for Cohen to capture this feeling again. Homophobia is a big issue today and I was really hoping to see some kind of exploration into the subject.

It was there but not in the way I expected. It felt, to me at least, that Bruno was there to simply make everyone around him uncomfortable. This was funny the first time but it got a little stale. It would have been nice to see more in terms of intolerance.

I also expected more in terms of parodying the shallowness and unpractical nature of the fashion industry. There were plenty of opportunities to take stabs at fashion but this was only done in the beginning.

Without giving anything away there is a lot of shock and a great scene with Harrison Ford- but other than that it just seemed kind of under enthusiastic. I expected a lot more.

Granted, the DVD I rented began to skip about halfway through the film and I didn't see the whole movie, I believe that the only reason that this movie doesn't get the same reviews as Borat is because the American audience is too uptight. Yes, the movie is gross and at times cringe-inducing. Some of the more extreme scenes could have been hampered down, but I believe at the expense of the humor. Posters say they have never met anyone like Bruno, however have they ever met anyone like Borat. Neither exist in the real world and that is why the movie works. Cohen is a brilliant improviser and always two steps ahead of his targets. Some of the pranks don't deliver, but that's okay. I admire his audacity. For all the people who say it was too gross, imagine if the film was filled with explicit heterosexual sex, I'm sure the reaction would be much different. The aversion to this movie is primarily because there is a deep seated disgust to homosexual activity within the American psyche and even the most tolerant liberal is likely to be disgusted at some point. That's okay, that is why the movie works, it asks us what it is and why we are appalled.

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.

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).