Mondo Celluloid - Review

BRUNO

***1/2

In their 2006 comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, director Larry Charles and writer-actor Sacha Baron Cohen delivered what was that year’s (and perhaps, up to that point, the decade’s) most shockingly outrageous cinematic visual: a nude wrestling match between Baron Cohen and actor Ken Davitian, during which Davitian famously plants his massive and hairy backside right onto Baron Cohen’s face. The audience howled; history was made. But whereas Borat , despite its many hilarious “politically incorrect” moments, was seemingly the tale of an otherwise earnest and naive stranger-in-a-strange-land trekking across America in search of his true love, the title character of Charles and Baron Cohen’s follow-up Bruno is a shamelessly flamboyant gay impresario whose very raison d’etre seems to be just such outrageously explicit experiences. By the very nature of the premise alone, Bruno would have to out-Borat even Borat. And as the buzz grew leading up to its release date, fans wondered - after what we witnessed in Borat, would such a thing be possible? Especially in a studio-distributed, theatrical wide release?

Bruno has landed, and yes, somehow Charles and Baron Cohen not only managed to mercilessly tear through the envelope that Borat pushed, but most incredibly, get away with an R rating. There are moments in Bruno - or perhaps better put, the experience of watching some moments in Bruno - called to mind the first time I witnessed the singing anuses and gleeflul celluloid offal and sacrilege of John Waters’ early classic Pink Flamingos. Like Waters, as well as his modern contemporaries Matt Stone and Trey Parker, Baron Cohen is a master at conjuring a visceral reaction that is a blend of shock, disbelief, revulsion, and humor - you’re doubled-over in laughter as you consider what kind of sick person you are for not having shielded your eyes, choosing instead to root along and pray for more. And Bruno delivers more - and more and more and more. Just when you think “The Line” has officially been crossed, along comes the Swingers Party…

Offensive? I don’t believe so. When you walk in knowing that Sacha Baron Cohen’s ambition is two-fold - to expose the idiocy and hypocracy of Joe and Jill Q. Public (while, methinks, holding up a mirror to the audience as well), and to do so in as outrageously hilarious and distasteful a way possible - how can one then make a claim to have been offended? I look instead at Michael Bay’s Transformers: Rise of the Fallen for an example of a movie poised to truly offend - you walk into that movie expecting to be entertained by talking robots who fight a lot, not to be taken aback by two of the most patently offensive characters since Mickey Rooney donned buckteeth and slant-eyes in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. In other words, when your friend asks you if you’d like to hear the most racist joke you’ve ever heard and you say yes, it’s fair game on your sensibilities - you’ve given up the right to be offended.

There will, of course, be those unfamiliar with Baron Cohen, and who don’t read up on the movies they go out and see. The experience of watching couples and families walk out of Bruno reminded me of seeing Rent when it first opened in 1996 - my theatre-conscious friends indicated that, for $20, one could walk in and catch the second act, despite the fact that the show was sold out. “How is this possible?” thought I - if it’s sold out, and tickets are so expensive, why would anyone not come back for the second act? “Tourists,” they explained. It seemed some people go to NY and catch the latest play, indifferent to the subject matter or plot; they just want to see what’s “hot.” And sure enough, as we waited outside The Nederlander as Act One was underway, couple after couple marched out, complaining and murmering their disgust. So yes, there will be those who go see Bruno when they simply hear it was the #1 film of the weekend (which it no doubt will be) - and yes, many of them will be offended. I’m just not sure if that makes the film offensive. Ask me if Pinkberry is any good, I’ll tell you I find it bitter and undelicious - still, I recognize I’m not the authority on taste (and as for a while there seemed to be a new Pinkberry on every corner, I may be in the minority on this one).

Good satire? Absolutely. Sacha Baron Cohen is a true original. He goes one step beyond the man-of-a-thousand-faces aesthetic of his shape-shifting, method thespian ancestors Lon Chaney, Peter Sellers and Alec Guinness - for the most part, Baron Cohen unleashes his creations unscripted, excelling as both as a performer and, perhaps most ingeniously, as an improvisational marvel. Sure Mike Meyers can weave Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, Fat Bastard, and Goldmember into one film, but this is a man who is also known for the control needed - demanded - to pull such a feat off. One wonders if he could take any of these characters on the road, bounce them off the public, and wing coversations in full character - moreover, at the constant risk of getting punched, kicked, or as in one case in Bruno, even kidnapped and shot. Baron Cohen’s wit and talent are matched by his bewildering nerve - he is The Kentucky Fried Movie’s “Rex Kramer: Danger Seeker” (clip) come to life, a comic guerrilla seemingly dedicated to 110% commitment in his quest to titillate, unnerve, expose, and ultimately, entertain.

- Logan Crow, 07/11/09