Wow. You’ve got to hand it to Sacha Baron Cohen. The man has some serious balls. Unfortunately, you get to see them in this movie. Now, if you haven’t seen a Sacha Baron Cohen movie, you might not want to start with this one. Cohen made a name for himself playing controversial characters like Ali G and Borat as well as the character here, “Brüno”.
The movie follows Cohen’s previous formula of playing an outrageous and offensive character in a documentary type setting which allows for real reactions from “normal people” he interacts with.
In “Brüno”, Sacha Baron Cohen plays a gay Austrian guru, who is the most popular fashion host in every German speaking country except for Germany. After he disgraces himself in front of his fans, Brüno decides to move to the United States and reinvent himself to become world famous….because, you know, it’s just that easy. He tries acting, hosting a talk show and even tries to bring peace within the middle eastern countries and the Islamic and Jewish religions. No matter what he does, he offends and ultimately fails but he never gives up, even when its obvious he should.
On the surface, “Brüno” is highly offensive but that is exactly the point of Sacha Baron Cohen’s antics. He wants the reaction he gets from people. Is he trying to offend gay people? No. Is he trying to offend African-Americans? No. What he is trying to do is point out how uncomfortable we are as Americans by anything and everything that isn’t considered politically correct anymore. At one point he poses as a professional wrestler at a cage match that is being performed in a southern state. These hillbillies are all up for some blood and carnage until Brüno starts making out with his opponent on the mat. These people freak out and nearly riot. It’s hilarious.
“Brüno” isn’t for everyone and that’s just because most people can’t handle his offensively unique brand of humor. The man is a talented actor and comedian, as he has shown in work he has done with Martin Scorsese and Tim Burton but he truly loves getting on people’s nerves. Maybe it’s time we all look at how easily offended we are in this country and stop taking everything so seriously.
Oh, and did I mention there are a lot of penises in this movie? You have been warned.
Check out some of my other movie reviews at Examiner.com.
Follow me at:
Brüno movie trailer: