Brüno

Following on from Borat Sacha Baron Cohen returns to the big screen, this time in the form of Brüno, a gay Austrian fashionista. The film has the familiar faux-documentary style of Borat, though in this case the storyline centres on Bruno’s attempts to make it big in the old US of A, as opposed to learning the culture. Oddly enough though, despite the drastic difference in characters, the two films are extremely similar in terms of set up and execution. Though offensive at times, there was no doubt that the previous film was very funny, but even that struggled to stretch the joke to feature film length and here Brüno suffers even worse. The first problem is, is that the character of Brüno isn’t really that funny. Therefore, it’s the situations he finds himself in that must provide the laughs and move the film forwards. There are a number of laugh out loud moments, but these are severely tempered by scenes of outrageous (and unfunny) crudeness. In addition, picking on individuals and giving them the rope to hang themselves with on screen with their opinions and actions may be funny and shocking at times, but it is hardly original and is the same shtick that was used in Borat. Having said that though, it’s hard to be too harsh on Baron Cohen. With Chris Morris currently off the (small) screen, he is virtually the only comedian around with the balls to put himself in the potentially dangerous situations that he does. It’s just a shame that, this time, it’s for a weak character and a weak film.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Any subtlety that was in Borat is forgotten about here, as Baron Cohen ups the crudeness level to the detriment of the film. Rating: 5/10.