Bruno

In Bruno, Sasha Baron Cohen exploits stereotypes and examines the nature of celebrity; at the same time making us laugh, hysterically so. The film doesn't have quite the same shock value as Borat because this time we know the formula, but that doesn't change the fact that this is quite a funny film. After losing his Austrian talk show (it'll remind you of the old SNL skit Sprockets), Bruno decides to come to America to become a star. If you know anything about the character then you know that he's flamboyantly gay, and he uses this persona to shock and anger some seemingly innocent "victims". Like Borat, the film contains many vignettes where Bruno does his best to elicit reactions from various people, including Congressman Ron Paul, Paula Abdul, a martial arts instructor, and some "good Ol' boys" on a camp out. There are others, but you get the idea. Some people are obviously in on the joke, but most are not, and you'll likely know which is which. On the camping trip, he was pushing it to the point where I thought that one of the guys might get physical with him, and I'm not talking about the fun type of physical. This is the type of film where you hope that the people watching, "get" the joke. He goes about it in such an exaggerated way that you would think anyone would, but of course, that's no guarantee; at the very least you'll experience some guilty laughs, but you will laugh throughout the ninety minute running time.

Rating - 3 1/2