New Release-Brüno

I'm not going to pretend that I was a fan of Sacha Baron Cohen before anyone else was. I know that he was big in England for years. I do, however, feel confident in saying that I was following him before most Americans were.

There were only 12 episodes of Da Ali G Show, which were somehow spread out over two seasons. I definitely was watching at least the second season when it was still airing on HBO. While it's hard to call anything on HBO obscure, outside of my family, I didn't really know that many people that watched it.

Da Ali G Show was one of the most brilliant comedies I had ever seen. It didn't need any sort of plot, outside of a loose theme that Ali G would introduce at the beginning of each episode(such as Respek or Jah).

A couple of years after Da Ali G Show went off the air, Ali G Indahouse was released straight to DVD. While there were some funny moments, the entirely scripted story was just dumb. Dumb funny is fine sometimes, but fans of Da Ali G Show probably expected something cleverer.

Borat blew up more than anyone could have predicted. It broke the record for the largest opening weekend for a movie opening in less than 1,000 theaters. No one expected it to be a wide-release film. But not only did Borat blow up, but so did his catchphrases, look, and Baron Cohen himself. While there were some scenes that fans found out later were acted out, Borat showcased how America can be exposed to its own racism and laugh at it simultaneously.

Now three years later we have Brüno, the third character from Da Ali G Show. This movie probably had more scripted scenes than Borat, but the real scenes were just, if not more, tasty than those in the previous film. I read a review of the film on Newsweek.com, which said that while Borat was a lovable character, Brüno was just mean. Not only that, but it claimed that instead of Brüno exposing America to its own homophobia, the movie only fueled the fire.

Before I get into my response to that claim, I'll just quickly say that Brüno is great. It's wunderbar. Is it better than Borat? That's tough to say. However, if for some reason you're actually deciding on seeing this movie based on my review, than yes, you should see this movie.

Now on to my response to Newsweek. I'd hate for my first review on this site to be elitist, but here it is. You have to be really dumb to agree with some of the people that Brüno comes across in this film. I'm not just saying that agreeing with some of the more hateful people in this movie makes you homophobic. I'm saying that it also makes you an idiot.

In one of the final scenes in the film, Sacha Baron Cohen comes into a wrestling ring as a character-within-a-character. Brüno has tried to go straight by this point, and tells the audience that his name is "Straight Dave." He gets the crowd riled up by getting them involved in an anti-gay chant. Then Brüno/Straight Dave challenges Lutz, his lover throughout the film, to a fight(definitely scripted). When each of the fighters bodies are wrapped around each other in combat, the crowd doesn't bat an eye. They only love it that much more. Then the two characters kiss. The entire crowd goes crazy(not scripted). Things get thrown into the ring, and fans start walking out of the venue. I sincerely believe that if the cage where Brüno and Lutz were kissing was not locked, that they would have both been seriously injured by the mob.

The hypocrisy in this scene should be obvious to anyone. How does a sport which involves men grabbing and pinning each other have the chutzpah to decide what's gay? I used to watch the WWE back when it was called the WWF, but even when I was young I thought it was strange how little those wrestlers wore.

Now I know that wrestling is very different from mixed martial arts(which I believe was the event in which the previously mentioned scene took place). And I'm not going to get into a discussion about how gay many different athletic events are. My question is, how could an audience member watching that scene become more homophobic, as Newsweek would suggest?

First of all, if you have that sort of mindset, what are you doing watching Brüno? Did you think you were going to see a Schwarzenegger movie? Second of all, can't you see that in movies like Borat and Brüno you are the fool, not the protagonist?

Is it possible that people can become more homophobic after seeing Brüno? I guess. However, that would only help prove Cohen's point. And you can't hold back from making a point for fear of retaliation. If you do that then the terrorists homophobes win.

Between the people Brüno goes to in order to become straight, and those that just show their vanity(such as Paula Abdul), Brüno (as well as Borat and Ali G) are not about who Cohen is pretending to be, but who we are. These are movies about the reception foreigners get from Americans. They are about how we present ourselves to those who are different from us. And time and time again, the Brit Cohen shows that we, as Americans, should be embarrassed of ourselves.