I'm a big fan of Sacha Baron Cohen. I really liked Da Ali G Show and thought the Borat movie was very clever. In the TV show, I always felt like the Brüno was a second-rate gag and not as good as the Borat character... and the movie basically bears that out.
Don't get me wrong, this is a somewhat funny movie with a lot of good physical comedy and Baron Cohen has great timing throughout. His earnestness is amazing (in Borat and here).
One thing that was a problem in the Borat movie and is still a problem here is the suggestion that the people in the movie are random people who are not in on the joke. This is clearly not the case always - and in this film, it was shockingly apparent in a few scenes (particularly when he was interviewing parents about putting their kids in unusual photo shoots).
The problem is that the only way the Brüno/Borat joke works is if people are totally being taken advantage of and are honestly being fooled/laughed at. When we feel that the other person is in on the joke, it's just a dumb joke - or not even really a joke - just an idiot saying stupid and shocking stuff. Sadly this movie spent a lot of time in this area where it was totally clear that we were watching scripted dialogue with actors playing common people.
On top of this, the framing story, that Brüno was kicked out of his fashion show in Austria, so he goes to look for fame in America, was sorta thin and tired. I prefer the Borat angle, where he was simply touring the country to show true America to his home nation. By the time he started trying to be converted to straight-dom, I was totally bored.
(One more problem, and I think it might be the first time I've ever seen it, is that the so many of the laugh lines of the movie were used either in the trailer or in the press calls on TV. On at least the Today show and the Letterman Top 10, Brüno told jokes about how he's the most famous Austrian since Hitler and how Arnold Schwarzenneger is gay. I laughed when I saw those on TV this past week; when I saw them in the movie, they were stale.)
Still, there is some funny material here. I guess I just wish it was better. I'm always amazing that people don't know what they're up for when they agree to an interview (like Paula Abdul or Ron Paul). As performance art Brüno is an amazing project (that's cliché, I know, but it's true). As a movie, this is dull and not wonderful.
Stars: 1 of 4
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Remarkably tired movie. It's fascinating how this is the exact same film as Borat -- same structure, some everything -- and yet having a different character at the center of it destroys the entire film. Bruno is tiresome and obvious and unlikable. A shallow fey fashionista? Ugh.
ReplyDeleteYes - I agree with you totally on all of that!
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