Bruno Reviewno

I was excited to see Bruno because it seemed a sure bet to deliver some good laughs. (I loved Borat.) Unfortunatley it was pretty lousy. The obvious reason, which would plague any movie, was that it had no point, not even a flimsy one like Borat's journey across America searching for Pamela Anderson. Bruno was just a series of scenes strung together. The end had no reason to be the end except that it was the last scene.

I've read some reviews by Bruno-offended gays, but I didn't find him in any way offensive, and the audience at the theater, largely homos, didn't appear to either. I've seen Borat; I get Sacha Baron Cohen's joke. And, let's be honest, there are some pretty Bruno-esque gays out there.

Funny scenes included Bruno complimenting the "dick-sucking lips" of a "former homosexual" and Bruno going on a talk-show with his African baby, who he swapped for an iPod.

On the other hand, many of the situations he creates made me uncomfortable in a bad way. Depending on how controlled these situations are, SBC is a pretty brave dude; brave or totally insane. Take the scene where he stages a gay make-out session at a cage-wrestling match in Arkansas. How he can stay in character when raging rednecks are throwing bottles and chairs at him, I don't know. Moments like that were a bit too much. Borat illuminated the underbelly of America, but Bruno didn't show us anything we didn't already know. In fact it was all too familiar. A lot of times I felt like we were one second away from witnessing a Matthew Shepard moment, and that's not something I want to pay $10 to see.