Brüno

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.

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.

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.

In some ways, this movie is Sacha Baron Cohen's best work. His ability to completely and utterly humiliate some of society's worst people is absolutely on point at times, not least with the abhorrent talent show parents. On the other hand, it also contains some of his weakest and most off-putting material and many scenes are tedious and ridiculous. Overall, I think there is enough genius in here to consider it a success, but it certainly won't be everyone's cup of tea.

Brüno is a good movie with a very good set up for very cringe worthy hidden camera comedy and a very risky performance from Sacha Baron Cohen ,not his best movie,but it's definitely his most offensive.It will definitely offend many people and if you are easily offended definitely do not watch this movie.He visits some of the dark parts of Los Angeles that I didn't even know existed,particularly the straight camps and wrestling arena,which made the cringe in this movie so brilliant,I felt made about how much I was laughing at his jokes,because that's just the kind of movie it is,you realize its offensive,but you can stop yourself from laughing.Its certainly no Borat,but fans of Sacha Baron Cohens comedy will definitely enjoy Brüno.

Brüno (Sacha Baron Cohen) a European fashion model,heads to Los Angeles to become a big celebrity by following his own steps in becoming famous.