'Bruno' treads worn path, but hits the mark in places
06/11/2009 - 20:23:02Cert 18
Comedy
Sacha Baron Cohen’s follow-up to the smash hit Borat follows a similar template, poking fun at celebrities and American culture.
However, whereas the central protagonist of Borat was a lovable innocent abroad — a naive Kazakhstani journalist travelling the US — gay Austrian fashionista Bruno is a crass, insolent media whore who needs to be taken down a peg or five.
Disappointingly, only once in the film does he get his comeuppance, when he visits a swingers’ party and a pneumatic blonde whips him with a belt.
Occasionally Cohen hits his mark. Bruno’s guest spot on Today With Richard Bey, a confessional in the style of Jeremy Kyle, warrants a few chuckles, as does a ham-fisted attempt to bring peace to the Middle East.
“You are confusing Hamas and hummus I believe,” observes one beleaguered participant.
The crowning glory is the audition for a children’s fashion shoot. “Is your baby fine with lit phosphorous?” he asks one parent deadpan before confirming with another that her daughter would be prepared to undergo liposuction.
A scene involving LaToya Jackson, cut in light of the King of Pop’s death, is available here as a deleted scene.
Rating: 3/5
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