|
Brüno (18)
Directed by Larry Charles
Written by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Mazer, Jeff Schaffer
and Peter Baynham
On general release from 10th July 2009
Reviewed by
There is a special type of laugh that might only be heard at screenings
of Sacha Baron Cohen films. It starts with a rapid, high-pitched expulsion
of air from the lungs, at the moment when you can't believe he just did
that. But it is quickly strangled in the throat, in the instant when you
realise you're not sure what you're laughing at, or whether you'd like
to sit next to the kind of person who finds that sort of thing funny.
Following on from lightweight political spoof Ali G Indahouse (2002),
and the often deceptively clever journey into the dark side of the American
dream that was Borat (2006), Brüno is just a silly caricature of
a gay man. Sacked from his Austrian fashion TV show, he travels to the
US with loyal assistant Lutz (Gustaf Hammarsten) in step, seeking celebrity
by any means necessary.
So yes, he films a disastrous pilot show, he swaps an African baby for
an iPod and names him ‘O.J.’ (“a traditional African
name”), and he even tries to become hetero, with the ‘help’
of a deeply bigoted church pastor, and ever-so-straight activities such
as going into the woods with a bunch of men and killing furry creatures.
On Da Ali G Show – the Channel Four series that spawned all three
of Baron Cohen’s big screen alter egos – he used the naivety
of his creations to draw out subversive revelations from his often clueless
yet pompous establishment guests. Brüno in particular has travelled
a long way since then. Previously, he encouraged us to laugh at the vacuity
of the fashion industry, as he metaphorically stripped away the glitz
and revealed that the emperor was actually starkers. Now, as a hypersexual
cartoon, he offends and upsets exactly the people you might expect to
be offended and upset by having queerness thrust in their faces (puns
very much intended).
In one scene, 2008 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul is Brüno’s
victim. Paul is a racist, anti-abortionist, ultra-nationalist representative
of the US super elite. But as Brüno postpones an ‘interview’,
marches Paul to a bedroom and starts gyrating – apparently attempting
to ‘seduce’ the seventy-three-year-old so he can make a sex
tape – it’s easy to feel sorry for an elderly man who has
blatantly been conned and sexually intimidated. Under extreme provocation,
he leaves the bedroom and barks a few words at a crewmember, like most
people would. Is this meant to be funny, or merely shocking?
Buried under piles of cash beyond his wildest dreams, it is easy to see
why Baron Cohen wouldn’t be particularly bothered by establishment
hypocrisy these days. Instead, like some of the worst comedians in circulation,
he has been reduced to nothing more than shock tactics. Time and time
again, Brüno acts in a way specifically designed to upset certain
people, and then they are upset. Presumably, we’re meant to pat
ourselves on the back for only laughing ‘ironically’. It's
like...vassever.
|