‘Bruno’ not a masterpiece, but still relevant

By Zack McGhee | Monday, July 13, 2009, 11:44 AM

Funny as it is, Bruno has a little too much artificial narrative push to really work as the pure comedic masterpiece that it should be. Arguably the most dangerous persona for Sacha Baron Cohen (even after Borat terrorized the ultra-stupid in real-world, post-9/11 America), the titular fashionista is at the epicenter of a long, steady stream of carefully crafted vignettes. There are many moments of genius, from Bruno inviting Paula Abdul to have a seat on one of his “Mexican chair people” (he reassures her: “Demi Moore has two of these at her house”), to the focus group for Bruno’s American TV pilot, in which he and a co-host play “Keep it or abort it?” from an ultrasound of Jamie-Lynn Spears’ unborn baby. (One of the comment cards calls Bruno’s show “worse than cancer.”)

I obstinately refused to see Borat upon its surprise box office success three years ago. This I did under the premise that Cohen’s schtick appealed to our very worst instincts about our fellow humans — entrapping, then exploiting and humiliating them — in the interest of big laughs and a lot of money. Finally, I relented upon its DVD release, only to discover that I’d gotten myself all worked up for nothing. Borat was funny and relatively harmless, all things considered. Simultaneously toying with our oversensitivity while ragging on our collective xenophobia, Cohen’s ruse was goodnatured, if still a bit underhanded.

With Bruno, however, Cohen has concocted a climactic showdown to completely eradicate my arrogant, guilty-liberal tendencies, and embrace him as the genius satirist so clearly is. With a single scene, set inside a wrestling arena, Bruno achieves both gut-busting hilarity and profound social comment. Here is a group of ordinary people, deliberately chosen as victims by Cohen to witness a simple act — probably the least outrageous, least shocking thing in all of Bruno’s 82 minutes — so repulsive to them that their hateful, violent response bears out this now obvious truth: Sacha Baron Cohen does not, as I’d previously maintained, appeal to the worst in us; he brings it to the surface for all to see.

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