In a world where a gossip queen like Perez Hilton can bring down a beauty queen (with her assistance), self-described “gay fashionista” Brüno isn’t so special.
To quote the wisdom of the Black Eyed Peas, Brüno is so “2000 and late.”
When the host of “Funkyzeit mit Brüno” goes too far in Austria, he loses his job. And like he said on his show, he’s no longer “in” but “aus.”
The motto for Brit comic Sacha Baron Cohen’s turn as Brüno could be: Fool you once, shame on you; fool you twice, even more shame on you.
Because with the unevenly amusing, persistently crass follow-up to “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” Baron Cohen returns to the U.S. to punk the high and mighty (Ron Paul, Paula Abdul) and the ordinary (a talk-show audience, a sergeant on a military base).
Borat had his sidekick, the hirsute Azamat. Brüno’s is the devoted Lutz (Gustaf Hammarsten). He’s gaga for Brüno, who couldn’t be bothered to learn Lutz’s name until velvet-rope security in Vienna no longer knew Brüno’s.
And so the two head to Los Angeles, with jaunts to the Middle East and Africa.
You would think it would be harder to sucker the suckers for Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles after their first guerrilla filmmaking outing made more than $260 million worldwide. And yet.
Production-wise it was harder, according to the filmmakers. They were at risk of run-ins with police and subjects. Baron Cohen was ejected from designer Agatha Ruiz de la Prada’s show in Milan. And it appears a cameraman might have had a too- up-close-and-personal moment with one of the hunters Brüno hopes will butch him up.
The movie gets a lot of its titters by making explicit use of guy-on-guy action. An early montage of Brüno getting it on with his “pygmy” Asian lover had the nice buddies next to me guffawing. “Oh, that’s terrible,” one said, laughing.
During the same scene, a couple headed for the exit. Their haste (however voluntary) was the equivalent of being tossed off the mechanical bull half a second into the ride.
If the sex gags and pantomimes were the spur, they made the right decision. They missed the champagne toast. Bottoms up.
“Brüno” is the raunchy version of one of those “Saturday Night Live” spinoff flicks that should have remained a skit. Here, the thin plot of a randy narcissist who wants to be a celebrity makes for a paltry meal.
It also reminds us that for all his idiocy, Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev was a more likable jester than Brüno, who is the sum of his nether parts. One is a naif in a strange land. One is a jerk no matter where he travels.
Universal, the studio distributing “Brüno,” says in a statement (it’s come to that) that Baron Cohen is lampooning homophobia. Hah, not ha-ha, we say. Claims about exposing American hypocrisy in “Borat” were just as overinflated. And the straight comic’s version of gay desire is as distilled to sex acts as any bigot’s notions.
Even so, the Brit comedian proves there are many kinds of fools in this big, wide world.
There are those who will sign away their dignity or worse. Hence the scary stage parents Brüno interviews for a possible role for their kids on a show.
There are the “God Hates Fags” protesters who try to escape Brüno and his assistant, who are handcuffed in sex- play get-ups. Yes, the comedian stoops to conquer.
There are the press liaisons at the National Guard surely caught off guard when they allowed Brüno to visit a base in Anniston, Ala.
But being punked isn’t always the payback for wanting 15 minutes or less of fame. Sometimes people seem to struggle to actually be helpful, or at least polite. Take for instance a former Jordanian prez and a Mossad agent, or the straight swinger and the karate instructor (who shows Brüno how to defend against attack by sex toy).
There are full-frontal moments that must have challenged the MPAA. Covered by black bars from absolute explicitness, other scenes seem less shocking than a reminder that, like porn, the rhythms of this comedy can be ba-da-bum predictable.
Of course, outrage is clearly Baron Cohen’s point.
Which invites sage advice from another, greater shaper of pop culture. “Seal up the mouth of outrage for a while,” wrote Shakespeare.
Indeed.
Film critic Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567 or lkennedy@denverpost.com. Also on blogs.denverpostcom/ madmoviegoer
“BRUNO.”
R for pervasive strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity and language. 1 hour, 28 minutes. Directed by Larry Charles; written by Sacha Bar0n Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Mazer and Jeff Schaffer; photography by Anthony Hardwick and Wolfgang Held; starring Baron Cohen and Gustaf Hammarsten. Opens today at area theaters.
