Wednesday, July 15, 2009

At The Movies: Bruno by Sasha Baron Cohen

So this weekend I went to JHB to visit one of my dearest friends, and while there I had the opportunity to go watch Bruno, we both love comedy and so decided to go see the movie. At first I was apprehensive because I felt like Sasha Cohen had just found something that works and will keep doing it, my feeling going to the movie was I’m going to see the 2nd of many more to come where he plays a different character trek king through America. Having loved Borat completely and still find myself laughing at some of the jokes from the movie, I found Bruno different, wholly unsuitable for children, yet propelled by a nagging puerility that will appeal only to those in the vortex of puberty, or to adults who have failed to progress beyond it. On the surface Bruno is a brilliantly rude, deliriously insane closeted sexual politics on steroids mockumentary that hails Bruno as the biggest Austrian superstar since Hitler. Boasting as the anointed White Obama, bleached rectums, defence moves against multi-hued dildos, and in this bargain-basement narcissus' never-ending quest for "celebrity", Bruno attempts to seduce a onetime presidential hopeful, Ron Paul, adopts a black African baby and provokes a near riot at a caged boxing bout in Texas. While Cohen's taboo-breaking audacity remains in full force throughout Bruno, his ability to keep the big laughs on a roll seems to have waned a tad. So for those willing to endure the shocks and actually think about them afterwards, the film's jokes work on multiple levels, although it is hard not to feel that there is some diminishing return this time around.

No comments:

Post a Comment