Unbelievably hilarious. Here's the quickie review I cobbled together on my site (some spoilers):
Vassup! Bruno is, without question, going to be the funniest, most offensive movie of 2009. By no means should Bruno have avoided the NC-17 rating, but Borat was so wildly popular and made so much money, it allowed Bruno, cocked and locked, to unload all over mainstream movie theaters. If Bruno falls a bit short of the brilliance of Borat, it's inevitable. Borat shocked the world in 2006, not just because it was utterly hilarious, but also because it was a really good movie. Bruno, "Austria's most famous man since Hitler," follows the same Borat formula of coming to America and upending every situation he encounters, with a loyal sidekick at his side who leaves him part of the way through. The humor in Borat was more diverse, taking aim at the Jews, the chocolate faces, and the gypsies. Bruno hits all those notes too but the movie mainly has one sort of joke on its mind: Gay. Gay gay gay. Borat is also a more lovable character overall. It was much easier to empathize with Borat's quest to have a liquid explosion inside Pamela Anderson's vagine than with Bruno's desire to do anything to become the most famous gay Austrian since Schwarzenegger. Bruno ups the raunch quotient and breaks the needle on the meter. Bruno goes much farther than Borat did, be it the finale spectacle in the octagon cage, showing a focus group his TV pilot, or giving the ghost of Milli from Milli Vinilli a blowjob in front of a psychic. Sacha Baron Cohen continues to be the most daring and brilliant - what is he? A comedian? A performance comic artist? - today. He shouldn't even be alive; it's mind-boggling he wasn't killed in the Middle East while trying to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with his peace song. Bruno ist very vassup!
I thought there was a level of desperation with some of the cruder bits that wasn't there in Borat, but this was still another gigantic success. Hard to not to be in awe of SBC's fearlessness and his commitment to fucking with people. I came out of this one soaked in sweat in an air conditioned theater because this is probably the tensest comedy of all time. They establish a premise and you're just like, oh no. Between the laughs and the anxiety, it's exhausting. Also a plus is that this movie is just as memorable as Borat but with far less potential for impressions and catchphrases (hooray for gay hangups).
I liked Bruno as well, although I also don't think it was as good as Borat. The stuff in Bruno seemed to have more staged scenes (which I understand since SBC is more well known).
The bit with the focus group was awesome, and other scenes made me laugh hard. There just wasn't as many of them as Borat, and the ending was silly. Still, it is worth a DVD rental at the very least.
"Put on your helmets, we'll be reaching speeds of 3!" "It was nice of you to give that dead woman another chance." "All right, look alive everybody...oh sorry Susan."- MST3K: Space Mutiny Click Here (myspace.com)
Originally posted by Torchslasher Still, it is worth a DVD rental at the very least.
Apparently alot had to be cut to make it down to R, so the unrated NC-17 cut should be very...interesting.
As my friends and I have commented, in the last two or three years, there have been a disturbing amout of penis scenes in movies lately.
Probably not so disturbing to some, but I could do without it.
I certainly agree, but you almost have to give his movie a pass because it was obviously part of what this movie was about. But overall, yes Hollywood has finally fallen in love with the wang.
I also see your point about this movie specifically. The black box treatment seemed almost random, with some breasts shown and some not shown (same with the aforementioned male member). I have to admit the part at the end of the Bruno show they showed the focus group, with the...um...tip screaming out "Bruno" actually worked and got one of the bigger laughs in the theater I saw it in.
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"Put on your helmets, we'll be reaching speeds of 3!" "It was nice of you to give that dead woman another chance." "All right, look alive everybody...oh sorry Susan."- MST3K: Space Mutiny Click Here (myspace.com)
Jim Emerson compares Brüno to pro wrestling as part of this article. The whole thing is an interesting read, though it would probably mean more to those of you who've seen the movie, plus you'd have some kind of reference as to whether or not his points are valid.
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