BRUNO - Blu-ray review

Sacha Baron Cohen continues to do what he knows best and that is to recycle characters from his former HBO show "Da Ali G Show" and put people in horribly uncomfortable situations and film their shocking reactions to his antics. His first film "Ali G Indahouse" was amusing and the followup "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazahkstan" had a likable quirkiness to Cohen's offbeat comedy style. The character of Borat was a likable nincompoop who was not fully comprehending the American lifestyle and getting into situations that were funny and typically not too terribly insulting. His third film featuring the characters of "Da Ali G Show" is based upon the homosexual fashion reporter from Austria named Bruno and "Bruno" is far more insulting than it is humorous and watching the film had me wanting to walk out of my own home theater to escape its horridness.

Part of "Bruno" was staged and the responses were written fabrications, but other targets of Cohen were misled or unaware of what was going to transpire and while those moments are often humorous, the gig is now tired for Cohen. "Bruno" is a re-hash of "Borat" and not a very good one. Paula Abdul is asked to sit on "Mexican Furniture" that are garden and pool workers paid by Bruno to function as furniture. Then, the former pop star is asked to eat appetizers spread over a naked Mexican wearing nothing more than a sock over his penis. She leaves in disgust. Later in the film Harrison Ford tells Cohen to bugger off in slightly harsher words and politician Ron Paul is tricked into believing Bruno is a reporter wanting to ask him questions on economics and instead treated to an attempt by Bruno to seduce him to film a sex video.

The film's biggest prank involves Bruno trying to become the ultimate heterosexual and he becomes the cage fighter known as "Straight Dave." For the scene in the film where Cohen's character is reunited with his one-night lover and former assistant Lutz (Gustav Hammarstein), Arkansas citizens were invited to a cage fighting competition that was billed as "Blue Collar Brawlin" and then treated to a homosexual make-out fest in the ring by Cohen and Hammarstein in what turned into a very ugly scene. While I must give Cohen credit for having balls big enough to stage something like this on 1500 Arkansas rednecks, the scene playing out to Celine Dion's "MY Heart Will Go On" was not even mildly entertaining as those seeking cheap admission and cheaper beer reacted with disgust to being tricked.

A few other instances in the film involve Bruno attempting to become a famous Hollywood star and the uninformed and non-talented homosexual realizes his shtick doesn't work too well in America and realizes his shots at fame would be better made with a sex tape where he mistakenly believes the previously mentioned Ron Paul is drag queen RuPaul and then attempts to become straight through different church-based interventions and outings with a few rednecks hunting rabbit. He trades an iPod for a small black child and appears on "The Richard Bey Show" in one of the film's staged sequences and gets himself caught up in an unusual S&M contraption at a hotel after a night of "carb goggles" and gay sex with Lutz, who has fallen in love with him.

Some of the gags of "Bruno" do deliver laughs, but the majority of jokes in the film fall flat and the homosexual stereotypes painted by Cohen are both cruel and demeaning in a way that is hardly comical. The film plays out like a series of staged events meant to push buttons and causes the harshest reaction possible and instead of laughing at what is going on, it is easier to simply feel sorry for those "punked" by Cohen. Additionally, much of "Bruno" is fabricated and intended to look as if it is more of the same trickery. Porn star Michelle McLaren has a role as a Dominatrix and bit actors Hugh B. Holub, Todd Christian Hunter and David Hill are among those inserted as ‘real people' who help bring about an overly staged feel to the film.

There is a story behind "Bruno" and the film walks the line between trying to be a scripted story and a pseudo documentary. With "Borat" and "Religulous" director Larry Charles in tow, "Bruno" does succeed in doing what was intended, but the plot of a clueless gay man assuming he is destined for greatness in Hollywood and failing miserably in Hollywood would have made for a less than entertaining film without Cohen's hijinks. The story pokes fun at some of the conventions of Hollywood and there are numerous in-jokes for those in television and cinema, but a lot of these things are lost on the masses that bought over $60 million of tickets for "Bruno." The film is a better made picture than "Borat" and perhaps Cohen and Charles' expertise now in making these films is bringing too much polish to them to be truly entertaining and this is partly why "Bruno" falls flat.

Cohen is a more than capable actor and he earned enough fame from "Borat" and his character appearances in high profile films "Talladega Nights" and "Sweeney Todd." There is a following for his characters and the actor has stated that Ali G, Borat and Bruno are now all retired as the characters are too familiar for his gags to continue as the number of unsuspecting victims is dwindling quickly. Hopefully, these films are now a thing of Cohen's past and his future is more of a legitimate character actor and he doesn't simply invent new characters to continue this style of filmmaking and comedy that is quickly becoming tired. It was fun for a while, but whereas Ali G and Borat were fun and unique characters that had a lot of fun with their victims, the character of Bruno is cruel and harsh in his treatment of others and Cohen is capable of so much more than what was done in this film.

I don't mind penis jokes and I don't mind poking fun at groups through stereotypes when the intent is not to be harmful to others. Unfortunately, the feeling I got watching "Bruno" was that the comedy was derailed and this is a film that does nothing more than hurt others. The style of filmmaking where Cohen and crew mislead people into situations where footage is then used for a larger story does stir controversy and any of the "Ali G" spinoffs have stirred up their lion's share of controversy. I laughed through "Borat" and loved "Ali G," but I just can't get behind "Bruno" (no sexual pun intended) to enjoy this film. There were a few times when I just wanted to hit stop on the remote because I was far more offended than entertained. The only saving grace was the final scene where Bruno is making a music video with Bono, Snoop Dogg, Chris Martin, Slash and Elton John. That was a great bit and the handful of other funny moments keep "Bruno" from joining "The Marine" with the lowest score I can give a film.

Video:

Part of Cohen's cookie-cutter mold for his "Ali G" derived characters is to present his films in a faux documentary style. This results in less than average picture quality as much of the film is created with hand held video cameras of a low resolution that results in crushed colors and overly soft detail. "Bruno" is inconsistent in that it features a very high percentage of these scenes, but a few of the film's scenes were shot with high definition cameras that result in very good coloring and detail. The film's opening sequence is one example of how sharp the transfer can look and the redneck camping outing complete with night vision photography is among the film's absolute worst looking sequences. That being said, the 1.85: 1 framed "Bruno" is a picture that is hard to grade for picture quality, but it is technically sound. It was intended to look like something shot with a home video camera and for much of the film that is what you get.

Audio:

The opening sequence is again the high point of "Bruno" on Blu-ray as the English HD-DTS 5.1 Master Audio mix features strong bass and audio from every channel. The closing ‘charity' song featuring the A-List of musical talent sounds good as well. However, the rest of the film is only marginally better sounding than something recorded with a home video camera as audio is often times tinny and thin in sound. Even the crack of Michelle McLaren's whip lacks any impact during the dominatrix scene. This is a relatively low budget comedy that is intended to mimic a documentary and it was never intended to be a sound engineer's wet dream. The mix is confined to the front channels and while dialogue is strong, it is at times of lower volume due to the style of the filmmaking.

Extras:

"Bruno" arrives onto Blu-ray as a 2-disc release where the second platter is a DVD that contains a Digital Copy of the film that allows easy transfer to an iPod, Mac or PC device. The Blu-ray itself touts a few exclusives that begin with the Pocket Blu iPhone application that is similar to the recent Mobile-Blu used by Paramount. This contains a virtual remote and keyboard to help use a Blu-ray player and I can think of great uses for a virtual keyboard when it comes to using BD-Live and such. You can take along a few bonus features to the iPhone that is only available on the device. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this review it was not available on the App Store to test out. Access to the BD-Live center is also possible via this title and I could have logged in with the virtual keyboard had I had access to the iPhone application.

The disc contains the ‘freakin awesome' Blu-ray advertisement that seems a bit much, but then it boots to a screen that allows you to choose to view the film with or without the Enhanced Commentary. This is a good video commentary where Sacha Baron Cohen and Larry Charles discuss the making of the film and share some funny and not-so-funny anecdotes about the making of the film. This is essentially a standard commentary track that sometimes has a video window pop up showing the two as they discuss the film. Have I mentioned the menus are in Austrian? I found the commentary track more entertaining than watching the film itself and there was some good additional bits of trivia discussed here.

The Blu-ray is also the only format that contains certain Deleted and Extended Scenes. The two Alternative Scenes (5:42) includes one scene where former Philadelphia Phillie Pete Rose pays Bruno a visit and sits on the Mexican chairs. Rose is funny as he doesn't seem too phased, but irritated. The eleven Deleted Scenes (40:45) are rather lengthy and one is exclusive to Blu-ray regarding the "Middle East." Of note here is the Latoya Jackson scene that was removed from the film after Michael Jackson's death. The eight Extended Scenes (22:39) includes the second and last scene that is only found on Blu-ray and this dealt with the National Guard scene in the film. Finally, an Interview with Lloyd Robinson (5:32) is included and this is more time with the agent that was Bruno's agent in the film.

Closing:

I did not enjoy "Bruno" much at all and truly felt like walking away from my own home theater to discontinue watching this evil twin of "Borat" cause people discomfort for the sake of humor that was never realized. "Borat" was fun, but this film is not. Hopefully, this is the last time that star Sacha Baron Cohen uses this technique of ridiculing others to make a funny film. The Blu-ray release itself is technically sound, but the faux documentary style prevents the film from looking like anything special. Universal did give a little extra love to the Blu-ray release and includes their own take on the iPhone friendly application that allows the touchscreen phone to be an extension of the release; however, the app did not appear on the App Store. There are other Blu-ray exclusive features that do make this the preferred way of owning this film. I just don't see why anybody would want to own this garbage.