Sacha Baron Cohen: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked
3. Brüno Gehard - Brüno (2009)
Attempting to ape the success of Borat by mimicking its wacky character meets real world format, Brüno came nowhere near achieving the same level of quality. The protagonist himself, Brüno Gerhardt, featured initially as a bit-part on Baron Cohens Da Ali G Show and his moderate success was entirely down to him being used in small doses. Hes intentionally unlikeable and high maintenance, with no redeeming qualities that an audience can empathise with or relate to. The plot revolves around Brüno, an Austrian fashion reporter (read: gay stereotype) as he attempts to break America. Aside from a watered down romantic subplot, theres not much more to the film than a series of set-ups which would be fine if it wasnt for its delivery. Essentially, it fails where 2006s Borat succeeded, possibly due to its retreading old ground. While Brüno shows the dark side of the fashion industry and celebrity lifestyles, this is all overshadowed by Baron Cohens mile-a-minute performance which isnt content to let a joke land before steamrolling over it and into the next. Getting pushy parents to agree to do horrendous things to exploit their children for a modelling contract, saying awful things about an adopted baby on a chat show and exposing the latent homophobia of right-wing politicians in the US all make for interesting set pieces by themselves but Brüno never elevates itself above shock value for the sake of it.
A pop culture mad writer from the North East who loves films, television and debating them with whoever will listen.
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