BRUNO

Written by Sasha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Mazar and Jeff Schaffer
Directed by Larry Charles
Starring Sasha Baron Cohen and Gustaf Hammarstein


Brüno: Put your shoulders back. This is a fashion show, not a slave auction.

The camera bulbs flash and the incessant club beat bangs. This is excitement; this is glamour; this is BRUNO, the new film from the creative team of star, Sasha Baron Cohen and director, Larry Charles (RELIGULOUS), the people who brought you BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN. In BORAT, Baron Cohen embodied a TV journalist from Kazakhstan transported to the USA to learn just how the Americans make this thing we call life work so well. In BRUNO, he is completely unrecognizable as a gay Austrian fashion television host, who again travels to the United States, this time in hopes of finding international fame. And, just like in BORAT, Brüno finds just as much ignorance and stupidity in his unsuspecting interview subjects. Unfortunately, he does not find as much scandal nor as much insight into human nature. Subsequently, the laughs are fewer to be found as well.


BRUNO had incredible potential. At a time when the rights of gays and lesbians are at the forefront of debate in America and around the globe, BRUNO could have exposed the harshness behind the opinions of those who fight hard to make sure that gay men and women continue to exist as second class citizens. On the other hand, BRUNO also had the potential to fuel their fire by shoving an oversexualized stereotype in their faces. We could have scowled at the haters or laughed heartily at the gays. Both luckily and unluckily, BRUNO musters neither reaction. It isn’t to say that Baron Cohen plays it safe; one could hardly say that when he makes out with another man in an Arkansas Ultimate Fighting challenge as the spectators hurl their beers and chairs over the cage that thankfully separates them. That said, we aren’t always laughing at Brüno; sometimes we are laughing at just how gay he is. Baron Cohen makes Brüno human, which makes his character’s direction forgivable, but the damage is done.


Personally, I didn’t find BRUNO to be offensive but isn’t that supposed to be the game? This is not your ordinary gay guy at Starbucks serving you your grande soy vanilla latte (Yes, I’m talking about you.); this is a German homosexual, who at one point is dressed in traditional African clothing taking a baby out of a box from the airport baggage claim. This is practically the definition of excess, a concept the gays are supposedly famous for. Yet, somehow it doesn’t seem to be shocking anyone at all. Sure, the psychic looked noticeably uncomfortable when Brüno pretended to give the dead guy from Milli Vanilli oral sex in front of him, but I already knew that overt homosexuality made people feel uncomfortable. I wanted BRUNO to show me why they felt that way and that never happened. It often seemed like more of a commentary on celebrity and chasing fame, making the whole seem unfocused.


Off the top of my head, I cannot think of anything funnier than a singing penis head and BRUNO has that and a whole lot more to keep you laughing. It lacks the depth of BORAT though, a film that explored the American experience, from patriotism to religious obsession and homeless despair. BRUNO feels less spontaneous, more orchestrated and exaggerated for comedic effect and little else. The visceral nature of Baron Cohen’s humour is what lends to his genius but his Brüno persona just feels like its been walked down the runway one time too many. Maybe no one would have cared if he played the gay guy at Starbucks but maybe in every day life, we might have caught a glimpse of what America can’t seem to get over when it comes to being gay. Instead, Brüno is so flighty that the film suffers the same fate.

RELIGULOUS

Written by Bill Maher
Directed by Larry Charles
Starring Bill Maher


Bill Maher: If it’s one thing I hate more than prophesy, its self-fulfilling prophecy.

Comedian, Bill Maher, is not happy. In fact, he’s downright fed up. And if you don’t want to see Bill Maher pissed, well then you don’t want to see his first documentary film, RELIGULOUS. If a little anger doesn’t bother you, then you’re actually in for a pretty funny, fairly assertive and unfortunately, somewhat uneven time. You can’t blame Maher though. He’s just been living in the twilight zone for too long. It just so happens that his particular twilight zone is Earth and he can’t really get away from that, now can he? Maher has been racking his brain for years now, trying to understand how so many intelligent people are still subscribing to organized religion when all he can see is how the entire concept has stumped the progression of the human race, brought about global unrest and promoted hatred and ignorance. Sure it brings a great deal of people intense solace about where their soul will go in the afterlife but he cannot resolve that with the painfully obvious mythological nature of the teachings. He urges people to take an honest look at their beliefs, to face the reality of stories about men living in giant whales for days at a time. All he can do in the meantime though is laugh.


And laugh he does, right in the faces of the people he is interviewing at times. Yes, it must be hard to sit across the table from an “ex-gay” trying to convince him that homosexuality doesn’t truly exist and that prayer can help you find the confidence you need to be a solid heterosexual. Yes, it must be a struggle to keep a straight face when you take a tour through an animatronics park dedicated to teaching children about how both man and dinosaur co-existed in order to justify the creationist theory. And I doubt very much I would be able to sit across from a television evangelist justifying his $2000 suit by claiming Jesus himself wore only the finest linen robes without losing it. Still, restraint is a virtue. I think Jesus might have said that but I’m paraphrasing. Maher has none. So convinced is he in his rational that he can barely contain himself in interviews, which makes him come off somewhat indignant and pompous. Of course, I’m laughing at these people right alongside him but I’m not sitting two feet away from them so it’s totally acceptable. Laughter is abundant in RELIGULOUS but it does occasionally take away from the grander, intelligent debate that is raised from Maher’s questioning.

RELIGULOUS is a perfect example of preaching to the converted. Religious fanatics are definitely not going to line up for tickets to this show. That’s fine; these are not the people Maher is trying to reach. As far as he is concerned, they are far beyond reach at this point in the game. Still, I’m not sure that fans of Maher’s previous work who might come out to catch this and who just might be also religious folks will hear his point. Given the choice between Bill Maher and the God they have been worshipping since birth is not much of a contest. Sorry, Bill. Maher doesn’t seem so concerned with these people either though. Maher is trying to speak to all the people out there who are sitting atop that proverbial fence. The agnostics of the world and those debating the merits of organized religion and whether it does service to the God they know to be out there, these are the people Maher hopes will hear his prayer. And once they do hear it, he wants them to go forth and preach the non-word to anyone who will listen.


I hope this doesn’t sound pessimistic to Maher but I have little faith that his argument will topple centuries of ritualistic worship. This is especially the case when Larry Charles’s directorial decision to cut away to countless other films as supposed comic accents ultimately undermines the case by interrupting the points in progress. Still, Bill Maher is just one man and I commend him for speaking his mind when his opinion is so clearly in the minority. Hopefully, one day, people will be able to see through his somewhat bitter condescension to see that he isn’t merely mocking their beliefs. No, Bill Maher just wants the world to be a better place … y’know, like it was when Jesus was here and the world was still flat.