I'm going to get this out of the way quickly because after an hour and a half of feeling like scratching my own eyeballs out, I have a little more compassion for the viewing public than this film had. Let me put it simply, this rubbish was not worth the price of admission and you'd do yourself a favor to just rewatch Borat. Lets think for a moment about the things you could have bought for $10 that are more fun... there's the skank-weed dime bag, or 100 mL of Absinthe, or there's always a handjob from a crack whore if you're so desperate for entertainment that you might actually consider seeing this film. It's not even like this is a sequal as much as it is a remake, in fact I found myself calling it Borat when talking with friends after watching it. The conversation usually went like this,
"How was Bruno?", to which I would say something to the effect of...
"Utter crap. The only time I really laughed was when Borat was getting beaten with a belt by a dominatrix."
I laughed because I was cheering for the dominatrix.
I'm not saying this was the worst waste of film ever, and to be fair it had a couple of funny moments, but it was easily one of the most redundant films I've ever seen. To say they used Borat as a formula and then adapted Bruno to that formula is like saying this mornings shit is both different in content and form than yesterdays shit. They're both cylindrical, brown, and mostly composed of shit, what exactly was the difference? Bruno is little more than a corn side dish compared to the steak dinner that was Borat.
But since we're getting into the realm of obvious comparisons, Borat was funnier than "Borat version 1.1: Gayer Borat", for all the same reasons that big fat bloated pigs like Andrew Dice Clay are no longer funny. WE'VE ALREADY SEEN IT! Back in 1989, it was fresh, interesting, and for a few people who hadn't yet experienced oral sex, even slightly titillating to hear the Diceman spew misogynistic vitriol. But in 2009, after 20 years of desensitization, the jokes are only mildly offensive, and have less punch than an octogenarian leather daddy. With a broken arm.
The shock and awe aspect of luring unsuspecting participants into an array of ass, fart, and fuck jokes was pretty funny 3 years ago, but I don't care anymore. It's not that the ass, fart, and fuck jokes aren't funny, if Borat had taken queue from Borat and given us something fresh and interesting when placing Borat into various Borat situations. Borat would have Boratted the Borat and Borat Borat.
The main point here is, it's impossible to not draw the obvious comparision, and by comparison, Bruno fails miserably. In one sequence, Bruno is acting shocking and appauling in front of a live audience, and out of anger at the display, they start to walk out. I found myself sympathizing with that audience, and wishing I could walk out as well. It's tired, old, and did I say Tired? the movie gives the impression that halfway though, even Sasha Baron Cohen decided the character was no longer interesting and gave up to shock yet another on screen audience with a different character. Isn't it a little masturbatory for the director to only play to audiences contained in the film?
What's really amazing is the potential this film had. It *is* funny to point out the bigotry and hypocrisy of Americans. Something that's relatively easy to do since there's so fucking much of it. There was a moment which was relatively funny and original where Bruno interviews the parents of children to see how far they will go to be in a photoshoot. He gets parents to let their kids dress as Nazi's and undergo torture to be a part of the gig. The same parents are probably putting the movie on their poor childrens reel and resume, and while these people might suckle off the disgusting underbelly of America normally, here they get called out for being the gigantic insane DOUCHBAGS they are. The issue of gay rights in america is rife with bigotry and homophobia which could have been called out as well, but instead of making you identify with Bruno, and care about the issues of a gay single parent, you get a character that is so shallow and obnoxious its impossible to care at all about the issues he's trying to expose. The scene trying to present the military as a big ironic homophobic den of bigotry failed completely despite it being exactly that, because the other recruits are just trying to help Bruno usually by simply trying to help him stand up, where he just appears to be deliberately flailing on the ground, fucking things up for the poor bastards.
Sure, it's possible Bruno suffered from Sophmoritis. They had as long as they wanted to develop, make, edit, and refine, the first film. And the second film had to be shot, edited and in the can in less less time than it took some distribution exec to wank off. But like the other awkward little shits of the sophomore class, its impossible to take this underdeveloped, zit ridden and pus dripping, foul mouthed idiot seriously.
In the end, I was relieved when Bruno was over. I was starting to feel guilty that I cared more about the violent, homophobic rednecks, and other Bruno victims than I did about the title character. I could have watched "Milk" again for a better commentary on gay rights, and I could have watched "Revenge of the Anal Fuck Beast - the Musical" for the few laughs, and shocking anal moments that made up the rest of the film. All in all, it was somewhat less painful than being fisted by your prison cellmate, but more painful that just about every other contrived, redundant piece of shit sequel to ever come out. Ever.
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