While watching Brüno, I tried to
keep a running tally of every penis that appeared onscreen, but the
logistics quickly grew too complicated: Does it count if it’s just
balls? How about dildos? What if it’s a penis made out of yarn? What
about those strap-ons that you wear on your face?
Penises are beside the point, however. (Sorry, guys.) All of the
dick jokes in Brüno—and there are many, many dick
jokes—are merely hilarious window-dressing for what’s ultimately
a focused lampooning of self-importance in any form. Sacha Baron
Cohen’s Brüno is a sex-crazed gay Austrian who moves to the US for
one reason only: to become famous. Because if there’s anything more
self-important than a celebrity, it’s believing that you deserve to be
one.
With the help of his sidekick Lutz (Gustaf Hammarsten), Brüno
concocts one get-famous-quick scheme after another. He creates a pilot
for a celebrity interview TV show—which test audiences declare
“worse than cancer,” possibly thanks to the talking penis-hole in the
end credits. (See? Does that count?!) He tries to make a sex tape, but
he mistakenly approaches Ron Paul instead of RuPaul (“The guy’s queer
as blazes!” shouts a baffled Paul). He decides that doing charity work
is a surefire path to fame, so he goes to the Middle East to reconcile
Israel and Palestine. And when that fails, he tries to convince a
“terrorist leader” to kidnap him.
Whatever your opinions about the authenticity of it all, the
documentary style is convincing—when Brüno asks the
terrorist leader why “your King Osama looks like a dirty wizard, or a
homeless Santa,” and the man tersely instructs him to leave, it’s hard
not to worry for Baron Cohen’s physical safety. This speaks to the
comedian’s uncanny ability to create characters that are strangely
likeable, even as their very existence—and all their attendant
racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism—relies on the fact that
they’re recognizable as caricatures.
Baron Cohen is a satirical genius, and in Brüno, the
sheer audacity of his stunts carries even the film’s weaker
scenes—it’d do a hilarious film a disservice to ruin any of the
jokes here. Suffice to say that Brüno will definitely
surprise you, possibly offend you, and certainly make you wonder if you
and the guy behind you are laughing at the same punch line. And if that
ain’t good comedy, I don’t know what is.