Brüno (2009)

Director:

Larry Charles

Writers (WGA):

Sacha Baron Cohen (screenplay) &
Anthony Hines (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

10 July 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Borat was so 2006

Plot:

Flamboyant Austrian fashionista Brüno takes his show to America.

Plot Keywords:

Austrian | Fashion | Gay | Fame | Los Angeles

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Sacha Baron Cohen	...	Brüno
Gustaf Hammarsten	...	Lutz
Clifford Bañagale	...	Diesel
Chibundu Orukwowu	...	O.J.
Chigozie Orukwowu	...	O.J.
Josh Meyers	...	Kookus
Toby Hoguin	...	Mexican Gardener #1
Robert Huerta	...	Mexican Gardener #2
Gilbert Rosales	...	Mexican Gardener #3
Thomas Rosales Jr.	...	Mexican Gardener #4
Marco Xavier	...	Mexican Gardener #5
Bono	...	Himself - 'Dove of Peace'
Chris Martin	...	Himself - 'Dove of Peace'
Elton John	...	Himself - 'Dove of Peace'
Slash	...	Himself - 'Dove of Peace'

Also Known As:

Brüno: Snipped (UK) (recut version)
Untitled Brüno Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity and language.

Runtime:

81 min | Philippines:75 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #45372) | Ireland:16 | Iceland:14 | USA:NC-17 (original rating) | Australia:R (original rating) | UK:18 | Portugal:M/16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:15 | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Finland:K-15 | Sweden:11 | Netherlands:12 | Germany:16 | UK:15 (cut) | Belgium:KT | Ukraine:(Banned) | Canada:18A (Nova Scotia) | France:-12 | Singapore:R21 (cut) | Brazil:18 (self applied cuts) | Mexico:B15 | Hong Kong:III | Philippines:R-18 (MTRCB) (heavily cut) | Australia:MA (edited for re-rating) | Australia:R (DVD) | Ireland:18 (DVD rating) | Malaysia:(Banned) | Japan:R15+ | Peru:18 | Argentina:18

Filming Locations:

Amman, Jordan

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

'Sasha Baron Cohen' and his crew reportedly illegally accessed a fashion show in Milan using fake IDs. After he entered the stage, the lights were dimmed and Baron Cohen was escorted out of the fashion show by security.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: When Brüno takes OJ out of the box at the airport, the subtitles says "That is 13 pounds of black gold." He says "Das ist vierzehn Pfund schwarzes Gold." "Vierzehn" means 14, not 13 ("dreizehn").

Quotes:

Ron Paul: [after Brüno drops his pants] All right, get out of here! This is ended.
Ron Paul: [later, in the hallway] That guy's queerer than the blazes. He took his clothes off. Let's get goin'. He's queer, he's crazy, he put a hit on me and took his clothes off.
Brüno: [narrating] I couldn't even schtupp RuPaul.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Have I Got News for You: (#37.7)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Tainted Love

Brilliant satire

Satire has been defined as stretching a position to its logical conclusion in order to expose its absurdity, for example, Jonathan Swift suggesting that the starving Irish should show initiative by fattening up their children and selling them to well-to-do families as food. The brilliant satirist Sacha Baron Cohen in Larry Charles' Bruno takes the story of a Gay Austrian fashionista seeking to become a celebrity in the U.S. and stretches it to its logical conclusion and then extends it - way beyond. It is often hard to tell if the film is an exposé of the debasement of our culture or just another of example of it.

In the film, a sequel to the 2006 mega-hit Borat, Bruno comes to Los Angles to become host of his own A-List Celebrity Max Out after being fired from his job as a TV host of the Austrian show Funkyzeit and being "schwartz-listed". Needless to say, it maxes out after the first viewing thanks to an abortive interview with Paula Abdul and Harrison Ford. Not letting a temporary setback stand in his way, Bruno hires an assistant named Lutz (Gustaf Hammarsten), and travels far and wide in an elusive search for the American Dream known as fame and fortune. In his stunts and misadventures (mostly in the South and Southwest), he exposes the raw prejudices that exist against gays and the sickening cult of celebrity that grips us as a nation.

The funniest scenes are at a swinger's party, on a Dallas talk show, at a gay "deprogramming" session, during a visit to a psychic where Bruno mimes oral sex, and the spectacle of a drunken crowd stirred up by "scared straight" Bruno bashing gays in a fight-club arena. Seeking to become recognized world wide, Bruno travels to the Middle East to try and bring the Arabs and the Israeli's together but confuses Hamas with Hummus and the only thing they can agree on is that it is good with pita bread. In another sequence, he goes to Africa to swap his iPod for a little black child named OJ which he uses to crash American talk shows. Baron Cohen, who wrote the script with Anthony Hines, Dan Mazer and Jeff Schaffer saves his heavy artillery for narrow mindedness of every stripe.

The film ridicules all it comes in contact with, sparing nothing and nobody - from exhibitionist gays to up-tight straights, to families who will starve their children for a modeling gig. Some sequences hit their targets, others do not. If you are looking for good taste, you will not find it here. While satire in film is not supposed to be a comfortable experience and is supposed to make you squirm and even at times hide your eyes, it is not supposed to make you want to walk out.

Bruno travels a thin line between what's merely outlandish and what is revolting and its in your face shamelessness comes awfully close to defeating its own purpose. The fact that the Cambridge-educated Cohen is ultimately able to pull it off, however, and make it entertaining is a tribute to his courage and originality. While Bruno can be shocking and very disturbing, it is also a mirror for us to look at ourselves. Like the est training of the 1970s that was often confrontational, we may not like what we see but we can use it to grow from the experience.