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Having seen him dress up in homoerotic rabbinical attire on the West Bank, literally show his flaccid penis to a focus group, and attempt to get himself kidnapped by Hamas, one cannot help but ask from where comedian Sacha Baron Cohen derives his singular testicular fortitude. Brüno, even in the wake of massive amounts of hype, is truly amusing. It will also prove quite shocking to even the most jaded viewers.
The Latin maxim “castigat ridendo mores” (laughter chastises the morals) certainly applies here, as Cohen, playing a buffoon, humiliates himself a great deal less than many of his interlocutors. He has the uncanny ability to dissolve completely into an improvisational role, while at the same time carefully calculating his comportment so as to expose the hypocrisy, bigotry or ignorance of his unwitting victims, rendering them thoroughly ridiculous. His targets range from witless fashionistas to Paula Abdul. With his three major characters, Cohen seems to have stumbled upon a fundamental truth: when being interviewed by a cretin, people expose their true selves.
The interminable passages in a German pidgin that could best be described as “impressionistic” are a low point. Brüno’s antics with his personal assistant, Lutz, while entertaining, pale in comparison to his skirmish with Lutz’s improbably-shaped Kazakh counterpart. The furtive romance between the two soon grows far too tedious.
On the whole, however, Sacha Baron Cohen wields laughter like a weapon of mass destruction, and absolutely no one is safe. Funkyzeit mit Brüno is an unforgettable experience…for better or for worse.
--Avram
the Bruno movie Trailer
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