Bruno – by Matt R.
Posted by Greg Weinstein | Filed under Culture, Film
I haven’t seen this much male, full-frontal since my last family reunion. I come from a family of Renaissance painters, you creeps.
You better lick it, before you flip it.
Guess what?
Bruno is gay. And outrageous. And a stereotype. But that’s okay, because most normal people believe that these stereotypes are true. If they didn’t, it wouldn’t be as funny to watch them make a fool of themselves as victims of Ali G.
This movie has all the right cringe-worthy jokes. The kind that make you feel awkward and want to look away. Gay jokes, dick jokes, sodomy jokes. Racism. Insane parents willing to put their children at risk for an acting gig. Rednecks. Bible-thumpers. Jews, Palestinians. Terrorists. Even swingers!
You’ll laugh. You’ll squirm. You may even turn away from the screen. Someone you know might walk out. You probably won’t think it’s as funny as Borat. Your parents definitely won’t.
But here is the genius of it all. As we sit and watch these candid interviews, we witness the truth about people and their beliefs. There is no real Bruno. But there really are the crazy MMA fans down south, with real hatred for homosexuals. It’s not even just a Southern thing. In most places you can find people who hate other people. But what Sacha B. Cohen does is, he brings it all out front. And we sit and watch it and maybe feel bad for some guy who didn’t know what he was really being filmed for and spits out some slur. Or maybe we don’t feel bad, because it’s good to know these people exist and who they are.
But we think the joke is on them. And then you realize that you just sat thru a singing penis and a three-minute scene of different ways to have hard, deep anal sex AND you were laughing at it.
Maybe you hate the movie. Maybe you laughed the whole way thru. But I personally enjoy the fact that fucking with people is most rewarding when they’re mildly unaware of witnessing something they would never knowingly agree to, while laughing at somebody else they think is getting fucked with. And so for that, I give this movie 4 out of 5 Harrison Ford interviews. And a bonus nod for the amazing musical ending.
Also, don’t bring your kids. Or do, but when their future occupation is glory-hole operator, you have nobody to blame but yourself.
