BRUNO Grading and Discussion Thread.

[Garak]

Wasup! Welcome to the official Bruno thread, Sacha Baren Cohen's latest foray in to pushing people's buttons and offending just about everyone.

Official Trailer

TV Spot

TV Spot 2

Personally I think the trailers look hilarious and can't wait to see this movie. Borat will be a pretty tough act to follow, but if anyone can pull it off it's probably Cohen.

Any of you Fräuleins like totally excited!?

 

[Captain Craig]

Guess I'll have to check in here to see who's casually tossing away $10 when its clear that this is a renter. No entertainment value will be lost when you can Netflix this by October.

So how much longer does Sasha Cohen have before everyone realizes his just Tom Green 2.0?

 

[Roger Wilco]

So how much longer does Sasha Cohen have before everyone realizes his just Tom Green 2.0?

I don't know who Tom Green is, but Cohen will certainly have to think of something new after this movie (I hope).

Anyway, I'll definately watch this.

 

[The Evil Dead]

I went for Average. Sasha Baron Cohen has been far funnier in the past...I found the first hour on the slowish side, however if you are a fan of Cohen's comedy the last half hour is goddamn amazing. 75% of all the laughs I got from the film were crammed into the last 30 minutes.

 

[Garak]

So how much longer does Sasha Cohen have before everyone realizes his just Tom Green 2.0?

That's a bit of a stretch.

 

[Captain Craig]

So how much longer does Sasha Cohen have before everyone realizes his just Tom Green 2.0?

I don't know who Tom Green is, but Cohen will certainly have to think of something new after this movie (I hope).

Anyway, I'll definately watch this.

The reason you likely don't know who Tom Green is stems from the fact he was a one trick pony hack. He made a few films over a few years doing the same schtick. It got old, he went away.

Bruno is Borat just with an asthetic change.

 

[Harvey]

Bruno is one of three characters Cohen did on a television series, all of which have been the subject of their own films now. He also has shown his range in doing different comedic characters in several other films, including memorable roles in Talladega Nights and Sweeney Todd. That's far more than I can say about Tom Green, who had no range and basically played himself in a few movies before being exiled to an internet only talk show.

 

[exodus]

Bruno is one of three characters Cohen did on a television series, all of which have been the subject of their own films now. He also has shown his range in doing different comedic characters in several other films, including memorable roles in Talladega Nights and Sweeney Todd. That's far more than I can say about Tom Green, who had no range and basically played himself in a few movies before being exiled to an internet only talk show.

Exactly.

 

[Ethros]

I'll be seeing it on Monday. I'm a bit dubious though. Just looks really fake and shit like the Borat film. And I hate all the trailers making out he's some new creation, Bruno has been around for fucking years, but know everyones jumping on bandwagon

Just like when Borat came out, he'd been around on TV since 2000, but in 2006 you get all these fuckwit kids going "very nice!" etc like it's all hilarious and new.


The Borat film had some funny moments, but was WAY overrated IMO. I'd rather just watch segments of the previous TV Borat stuff that sit through a lot of the disjointed, fake, planned shennagins of the movie.

I get the feeling (though I hope it won't) that the same thing may happen with Bruno

Classic Bruno
"You motherfuckers in the Middle East..."

Bruno in Alabama
"Do you have a message for Austria's gay community?"
"Yeah, I'm not gay so don't come looking for me"

 

[Michael Chris]

I have no desire to see the movie, but that clip with the terrorist and the surrounding story on Letterman was amazing.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I wonder why Borat and Brüno seem to be huge hits, but nobody ever remembers Ali G. That was the first of SBC's characters to get a movie. But Ali G Indahouse wasn't a hit...nobody ever talks about it, do they?

Was Ali G just not as funny as those other two?

 

[Roger Wilco]

The Borat film had some funny moments, but was WAY overrated IMO. I'd rather just watch segments of the previous TV Borat stuff that sit through a lot of the disjointed, fake, planned shennagins of the movie.

I get the feeling (though I hope it won't) that the same thing may happen with Bruno

Yeah, I agree. The Borat movie lost a lot of appeal for me since I had basically seen it all before on Cohen's show. I'm sure if I had never heard of Borat before, it would have been a lot funnier.
But Brüno always was my favourite of Cohen's characters so I hope it's different this time.

I wonder why Borat and Brüno seem to be huge hits, but nobody ever remembers Ali G. That was the first of SBC's characters to get a movie. But Ali G Indahouse wasn't a hit...nobody ever talks about it, do they?

Was Ali G just not as funny as those other two?

I don't know. Maybe it's because Cohen only really became mainstream with the Borat movie, and Ali G was before that?

 

[Caligula]

I'll be seeing it on Monday. I'm a bit dubious though. Just looks really fake and shit like the Borat film.

When I saw the trailer for this movie, which ran before my screening of The Hangover, I cringed. It reminded me of everything I despised about the Borat movie. Which brings me to my next point...

The Borat film had some funny moments, but was WAY overrated IMO.

I agree wholeheartedly. Probably the only comedy I ever found to be more overrated was Napoleon Dynamite. That puts me in a very small minority, I'm sure. In any case, I acknowledge the love for both films while at the same time not sharing it.

 

[LitmusDragon]

I don't get this guy. I made it about halfway through Borat, felt like I'd lost some brain cells, and put something else on.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

I wonder why Borat and Brüno seem to be huge hits, but nobody ever remembers Ali G. That was the first of SBC's characters to get a movie. But Ali G Indahouse wasn't a hit...nobody ever talks about it, do they?

Was Ali G just not as funny as those other two?

No, Ali G was funny, but he had a movie already. It was a terrible, scripted mess not true at all to the spirit of the show. The sad fact is that Ali G became so notorious near the end of the show's run that it was hard for him to get interviews. Borat and Bruno never gained the same kind of notoriety, allowing for their films to be made.

 

[Too Much Fun]

If nothing else, you should respect the guy for his guts, in the way he fucks with people without any fear of reprisal. I seriously thought he was going to get killed or at least beat up at certain points in Borat (yes, I know much of it was staged), the way he would say anything to get a laugh, even if it meant seriously infuriating people who weren't in on the joke.

Perhaps Borat was a bigger hit than the Ali G movie because of what a wild concept it was being a "mockumentary" that is half-staged, while much of it features people genuinely shocked and bewildered by his behaviour. I don't know much about the Ali G movie, but as far as I can tell, it was more of a straight fiction movie with a plot than Borat or Bruno.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

t film had some funny moments, but was WAY overrated IMO. I'd rather just watch segments of the previous TV Borat stuff that sit through a lot of the disjointed, fake, planned shennagins of the movie.

Ditto. When you realize just how easy this shit is to fake or edit down to what you want it to be, the "impromptu" comedic aspect really starts to pall and it all comes off as one big, obvious, contemptable con.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I wonder why Borat and Brüno seem to be huge hits, but nobody ever remembers Ali G. That was the first of SBC's characters to get a movie. But Ali G Indahouse wasn't a hit...nobody ever talks about it, do they?

Was Ali G just not as funny as those other two?

No, Ali G was funny, but he had a movie already. It was a terrible, scripted mess not true at all to the spirit of the show. The sad fact is that Ali G became so notorious near the end of the show's run that it was hard for him to get interviews. Borat and Bruno never gained the same kind of notoriety, allowing for their films to be made.

I wonder if an Ali G 'reboot' movie could be made today, since I'm guessing that not too many American fans know or remember he exists anyway...

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

I wonder why Borat and Brüno seem to be huge hits, but nobody ever remembers Ali G. That was the first of SBC's characters to get a movie. But Ali G Indahouse wasn't a hit...nobody ever talks about it, do they?

Was Ali G just not as funny as those other two?

No, Ali G was funny, but he had a movie already. It was a terrible, scripted mess not true at all to the spirit of the show. The sad fact is that Ali G became so notorious near the end of the show's run that it was hard for him to get interviews. Borat and Bruno never gained the same kind of notoriety, allowing for their films to be made.

I wonder if an Ali G 'reboot' movie could be made today, since I'm guessing that not too many American fans know or remember he exists anyway...

It's possible. Ali G is not as well known as he used to be, but Cohen has said the the character along with Borat has been retired. Neither of them will ever appear in any future projects.

 

[Roger Wilco]

Ditto. When you realize just how easy this shit is to fake or edit down to what you want it to be, the "impromptu" comedic aspect really starts to pall and it all comes off as one big, obvious, contemptable con.

Oh, I don't think it's easy at all.
It's not a comedic style that's unique to Cohen (The Daily Show/Colbert Report are doing similar jokes all the time too for example), but he's very, very good at it. Watch some of his older stuff on youtube if you don't believe me.