Bruno finds Sacha Baron Cohen returning to his quest of exposing intolerance in the most outrageous of ways.
Bruno finds Sacha Baron Cohen returning to his quest of exposing intolerance in the most outrageous of ways. Creatively, the filmmakers have not progressed at all since their 2006 film, Borat. The premise and gags are nearly identical. The only differences are the name and appearance of the main character. Fortunately, so long as people continue to be offended by various members of society, Sacha Baron Cohen can continue to confront them with hilarious results.
If you saw Borat a few years ago, you know exactly what to expect with Bruno. Sacha Baron Cohen does his best to offend actual people and catches their reactions on film. The emphasis has shifted for this film. Borat was about catching people in cultural misunderstandings. The character was a Middle Eastern man who was attempting to understand American culture. For Bruno, the filmmakers target homophobia, as the titular character is a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion designer. The character himself may actually be a little too over the top. Often, the targets of the sketch will look shocked merely by Bruno’s appearance before he even speaks. They’re horrified after he does open his mouth. It’s hard to believe Cohen was holding back when he made Borat, but it seems as though he must have been.
The plot is where the movie really has a misstep. The filmmakers may want to consider giving up on trying to make these narrative movies, because this was the main problem with Borat, as well. In the case of Bruno, we find a plot that is exactly the same as that of the previous movie. Borat saw the main character touring America to make an educational movie for his home country. Bruno sees the titular character traveling around attempting to break into Hollywood show business by putting together a celebrity show, and later a charity music video. Just as in the first movie, the central character is accompanied by an underappreciated assistant who leaves Bruno when he hits rock bottom, only to have a reunion toward the end of the film. It is as though the filmmakers just pulled their old storyboards out of the trash, dusted them off, and started over again. We really don’t need a cohesive plot for movies like this. The comedy doesn’t come from the scripted scenes, it comes from the unscripted reactions.
One aspect that continues to impress from the first film is Sacha Baron Cohen himself. If ever there was an example of an unshakeable performer, he is it. His ability to so completely transform into his characters is admirable enough, but the fact that he is able to stay in character through unscripted interactions so well is staggering. It makes me wonder if there is any footage they are unable to use because he breaks character or starts laughing. It seems like there would either have to be a lot or none at all.
Bruno is a very funny follow up to Borat. The movies are so similar, though, that it is difficult to consider the new film as anything more than an extension of the first one. Changing hair styles and accents does not make this an original film. Especially not when the plot remains the same. One thing we can be thankful for is that the very nature of these films will keep them from making too many too often. Sacha Baron Cohen cannot risk becoming too recognizable or he will not be able to trick people anymore. Hopefully, they will use the necessary break between films to figure out a fresh approach for the material. Until then, Bruno proves that another episode of the same thing isn’t all bad.
