The U.K. Sun have posted the first review of Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Brüno,” a film that has been buzzing in the media and not all of it has been positive (and oh yeah, Cohen is on the cover of GQ nude this month).
Let’s start with the Sun. “The Nazi leader [Adolf Hitler] gets a mention every five minutes,” and the review is pretty much off and running.
“To say Brüno makes uncomfortable viewing is an understatement of Battle of Britain proportions. When I wasn’t giggling like a 14-year-old, I was cowering behind my hands. And I wasn’t just hiding from the acres of kugelsack, Brüno’s word for the lunchbox, shown during the 90 minutes.”This last part is making waves: “And here lies a warning — the pygmy sex scene is one of the most horrific incidents ever committed to celluloid.”
Sounds deliciously outrageous and pretty much like the footage we saw at SXSW, which was just apocalyptically funny. But the film itself? Maybe some good and bad. The Film Experience blog has posted Twitter “reviews,” err.. thoughts from those that have seen it, but aren’t supposed to review it yet.
“predictably hilarious. even more shocking and envelope pushing than ‘Borat’ and just as funny. but at the same time it’s no longer new, so it feels somewhat “safer” as in you know what to expect. Still awesome, though. Gay stuff will keep it from doing Borat $. And I have no idea how they got an R rating.”
Second “review” is via email.
“I couldn’t believe the sort of things Cohen got away with. Lots of penis and explicit (comic, obviously) gay sexuality. There’s an extended sequence early on that is so wildly over-the-top (the capper for me involved a bottle of champagne), that I almost think Sacha Baron Cohen included it as a warning/button-pusher (i.e. if this part doesn’t make people walk out of the theater, they should be fine for the rest of the movie).”
BBC’s Jonathan Ross tweeted (via /film). “Was very funny. Not as funny as Borat, but funny.”
Sounds like it will offend to the hilt. Let’s just hope it’s funny all the way through.
The Gay community has understandably been up in arms about the film and the Wrap has posted a video from a Lifeworks event honoring “Milk” screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (who is gay), and some gay celebrities have been comparing “Bruno’s” social satire as the homosexual version of blackface and making a mockery of gay culture. But the interviewer here is heavily leading the witness, so it’s hard to say what someone might say on their own, or… ahem, after they actually saw the picture. Even the Drudge report has got into the mix with their reports about the growing concern from several gay groups, including the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation who told the New York Times. “Sacha Baron Cohen’s well-meaning attempt at satire is problematic in many places and outright offensive in others.” The Times’ piece, A Plea for Tolerance in Tight Shorts. Or Not, delves into the “problematic satire,” deeper.
They write, and with great acuity:
So it goes for “Brüno,” a movie that, in mercilessly exploiting the discomfort created when straight men are ambushed by aggressive gayness, happens to (surprise!) expose homophobia. Gay groups are reacting with deeply mixed emotions, heightened by the recent triumphs (Iowa) and losses (California) in efforts to legalize gay marriage. Is the film then vulgar, inappropriate and harmful? Or bold, timely and necessary? All of the above?
And isn’t that the exact brilliance of “Brüno” and Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedy in general, in that it challenges us, confronts us with a headlock and raises questions, concerns and makes us actually… gasp, pause for thought and or wrestle with ourselves and our opinions?
“Brüno,” is scheduled for release July 10.
