- Location: Regal Gallery Place Stadium 14
- Certain parts of Bruno remind me of a series of jokes I enjoyed in gradeschool. You'd ask someone "You know what's gross?" and proceed to tell them something disgusting and possibly scatological. The joke was that, no matter how awful the first item may have been, you always had something even worse, "grosser than gross," lurking in the wings. This is an important component of Sacha Baron Cohen's approach to humor. You think you've seen it all, and then it gets much, much worse. I don't think I need to list examples, and there's little chance my words would do them justice. I have no idea how this film landed an "R" rating, and let's just leave it at that.
- Interestingly, however, there is more to Bruno than just unthinkable crudity. Cohen's ability to generate painfully awkward situations is probably unparalleled in modern comedy, and I really do mean that as a compliment. He somehow selects precisely the worst possible thing to say or do without going so far over the top that his audience catches on. Similarly, he is probably better than anyone else in the business at baiting other people into saying or doing things that, under normal circumstances, they would never do. Surprisingly, he is also very impressive as a physical comedian, particularly in the "Velcro suit" incident. Did I mention that all of this is accomplished without ever breaking character? Allen Funt never jumps out from behind the bush, and there's never a wink at the camera.
- While it is debatable whether Cohen's approach to comedy is ever really ethical, most of his targets are sufficiently absurd that I didn't really have much sympathy for them. I'm thinking, for instance, of Paula Abdul when she discusses her humanitarian interests while sitting on a piece of "human furniture." Or the woman who is so fixated on raising her child to be a star that she's willing to have her infant lose ten pounds or hang on a cross. Or the vacuous model who happily agrees that modeling is probably the hardest job in the world, especially when you have to remember which foot goes in front of the other. All of these people are seeking the spotlight, and Cohen is happy to shine it right back in their faces. Others, like the "gay conversion expert," the psychic, and nearly all of the attendees of the "Man Slammin' Cage Fight" are so far beyond the pale that they, too, deserved what they got.
- The trickier issue, of course, is how to react to Cohen's interactions with the less blatantly offensive people in the film. Take the traumatized motel employee who responds to a call for help only to discover Bruno and his long-suffering assistant Lutz (Gustaf Hammarsten) chained together in some sort of infernal sexual contraption. Or the group of hunters who, for reasons I'll never know, actually agreed to let Bruno camp overnight with them. Or even Congressman Ron Paul, who, despite his odd political views, probably didn't deserve to get tricked into a sex tape appearance. You get the distinct impression from their reactions to Bruno that all of these people are, to varying degrees, homophobic. That said, you also get the impression that it is primarily because of Bruno's intentionally exaggerated flamboyancy and general ridiculousness that these traits have surfaced. It seems to me that such people would have been better served by interacting with real, normal gay people, but I suppose that wouldn't have made for such an absurdly funny movie.
- Oddly enough, my favorite moment in the film was probably also the cleanest, when Bruno confuses Hamas and hummus. "Isn't pita bread the real enemy?" Brilliant.
