Brüno

I liked Borat, but unlike most people, I wasn't in love with the film. I thought it had a good mix of smart, edgy satire and shock value, but I also felt the movie wasn't able to substain itself through multiple views like the Jackass movies...and the endless amount of people who thought it was hilarious to constantly quote lines from the film was annoying as hell. Bruno tries to achieve the same, but fails simply because it tries too hard. The plot is almost an exact copy of Borat as it sees a foreigner come to America on a mission with a sidekick joining him and many of the comedic bits seem to be an attempt to create moments very similar to the famous scenes from Borat.

The straight comedic moments in the movie, while managing to make chuckle every once in while, were tired and predictable. Much of the humor is pulled from tired gay stereotypes we've all laughed out hundreds of times before and the rest of the humor relies way too heavily on Bruno getting nude for comic effect and it gets old very quickly. Bruno's attempts at satire also invoke a sense of deja vu and its just...well lazy. The movie is attempting to expose the bigotry and homophobia of Americans, but it doesn't expose anything that most people didn't already know. People in the south are homophobic? Stop the presses! The one time movie actually succeeds with this angle is when Bruno consults a Charity PR Firm to figure out which charities are most fashionable and it was a wonderful dig at how shallow many celebrity social causes are. Its a shame the rest of the movie couldn't be like this.

Also, Bruno just comes off as a dick. He's a terrible person and an extreme stereotype who instigates pretty much any and all conflicts he comes across. A naked Bruno attempting to sneak into a hunter's tent in the middle of the night, it's kinda funny, but it's no surprise that hunter gets so pissed about. Bruno practically forces himself on Ron Paul and the outcome of Ron calling him a queer wasn't worth the effort and I didn't feel shocked at that and I was actually surprised that Bruno didn't get knocked out or something. Bruno's attempts at revealing the homophobia in our society are just weak and desperate. The movie has some legitimately smart moments and some pretty funny moments, but they're just to few and far between to make the movie really enjoyable.