Is Sacha Baron Cohen maturing in reverse? That's the impression I get when I see his career trajectory, and it makes me sad. When I first became aware of him about 10 years ago, as his Ali G persona, he was an assault-comedian with razor-sharp wit. Interviewing political analysts and religious leaders, he often caught them off-guard with moronic questions and was able to make his unaware targets appear foolish. This was the same tactic that made Borat so memorable. Though it's the outrageous physical humor that makes us laugh the hardest, the genius-at-work is when Cohen casually uses stereotypes to expose the prejudices embedded in people. This time, as the last remaining alter ego from his TV show, the gay Austrian fashion journalist Brüno, Cohen disappoints by substituting clever pranks for a gross-out shockfest.
His snaring of reprehensible people is not completely missing—an audition scene where parents agree to perform liposuction on their babies for a photo shoot will make you gag in horror; likewise a church leader denouncing homosexuality while simultaneously revealing his contempt for women—but as great as they are, they're dominated by missed opportunities.
Missed opportunities such as an interview with Ron Paul. Yes, that Ron Paul. Rather than engage in any kind of verbal prodding, Brüno just does a striptease and Congressman Paul promptly freaks out. It's kind of funny at first, but then you come to a realization... That's it? There's no attempt to get Ron Paul to say something silly, there's no clever baiting? Just stripping? It'd be a more interesting scene if Brüno tries to rape him and the Congressman punches him in the mouth.
Considering America's current climate, a provocatively gay man exploring redneck zones and challenging the religious right could be a great thing to see, especially if Cohen could expose the more hidden homophobia. It's frustrating to discover that he barely attempts to scratch the surface. There's no mention of Proposition 8, gay marriage barely enters the film, and it seems like only a third of the movie even refers to homophobia. It's like Cohen saw that his naked wrestling match with Ken Davitian was considered Borat's highlight, so he decided to pad out this "sequel" with similarly shocking stunts. If you liked Borat for its crude humor alone, you'll most likely like Brüno; but if you thought Borat was a potent and clever satire, it's clear that Brüno utterly dropped the ball. The Brüno sketches on Da Ali G Show were always the weakest part of the show, but even those were more astute than this movie.
The main problem with Brüno as a film, above all, is a lack of focus on what it's really about. Borat, as much as it was a series of pranks, was tied together by a common theme (learning American culture). Here, it's all over the place. There's fashion, showbiz, celebrity hypocrisy, Israeli-Palestinian conflict (?!) and eventually homosexuality. It's like a collection of ideas that they filmed but couldn't find a way to put together as a movie.
There is a narrative thread: Brüno's assistant Lutz (Gustaf Hammarsten, who plays a great wounded puppy dog lover) is in love with him, but Brüno doesn't love him back. There's potential for a great subversive and satiric love story here, if only the film recognized it.
I'm probably demanding too much of Sacha Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles. What's wrong with just a dumb comedy? After all, there's still satisfaction (and laughter) to be had from Brüno hitting on redneck hunters or flaunting gay sex in front of an Arkansas cage fight audience. Yes, all things considering, the movie is still pretty funny, but it's sullied when the potential for something great is this obvious and this close, yet the ball bounces off the court. It's also not as funny as Borat's non-stop barrage of baffling interviews and unreal infiltrations (I still consider Borat's church revival scene to be ballsier than anything in Brüno). Brüno is such an extreme character that often the believability goes right out the window, which wasn't a big problem with the Borat character. Brüno's antics are so clearly beyond illegal that when people react to him, we can't quite laugh as heartily, since it's all too obvious of a farce.
You know, I wonder if I got it all wrong. At one point, Brüno shows a focus group his new infotainment pilot, which consists more of him gyrating his crotch towards the camera and a close-up of a penis flopping around than actual celebrity interviews. The middle-aged volunteers are naturally repulsed, but that's because they don't know it's a put-on. Funny thing is, that pilot is not that different from this movie. I'm beginning to think that Sacha Baron Cohen made Brüno as an Andy Kaufmanesque joke in itself, to put as much peen on America's movie screens as possible, flaunting it as hard as Brüno does. Who knows, maybe that's a pro-gay incentive in itself. I can't imagine it being very effective, though.
"Brüno" opens July 10, 2009 and is rated R. Comedy, Documentary. Directed by Larry Charles. Written by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Mazer, Jeff Schaffer, Peter Baynham. Starring Gustaf Hammarsten, Sacha Baron Cohen.
