Coffee Break: Vasssssup?!

By Madison Shimoda | July 22, 2009 at 8:00 pm | Arts & Culture | 8 comments | |

 

The summer flick I was most looking forward to was Brüno. As a fan of Sasha Baron Cohen’s other creations (Ali G, Borat, etc.) I could not wait to see the Austrian, self-proclaimed 19 year-old, fashion reporter for Austrian Gay TV in his own eponymous movie. My friends and I watched the trailer on a daily basis the month before it was released and memorized every line (Dolce & Gabbana, of course. Hallo?). We bought our opening night tickets weeks in advance and made our Brüno viewing night an event.bruno-040209

The movie opens with Vassap! I’m Brüno. I’m at Milan fashion veek! and immediately draws laughter from the audience. It goes downhill from there. I loved Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan but didn’t expect the plotlines for the two movies to be exactly the same. Replace Borat with Brüno, his producer Azamat Bagatov with Bruno’s assistant’s assistant, Lutz—and voila you have the same movie…except not as stimulating. While Borat was clearly satirical, Brüno steps a fine line between making fun of homophobes and being homophobic—and sometimes it seems to cross that line. The gratuitous sex scene between Brüno and his pygmy boyfriend in the beginning of the movie seemed to reinforce, rather than mock, the stigma attached to homosexual intercourse. “Some scenes were unnecessarily vulgar,” said one of my homosexual friends. “I would have probably felt the same way, regardless of my sexual orientation.” The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has denounced the movie for reinforcing negative stereotypes even after the movie got rid of some of its more questionable scenes.

That said, the movie wasn’t without its strengths. As usual, Baron Cohen was spot on with his portrayal of his crazy characters, in this case, Brüno, and there were some great lines from the movie—unfortunately most of them all shown in the trailer.

In a sense, Baron Cohen’s popularity in the United States is a blessing and a curse because he was constantly recognized everywhere he went. (Rumors are, he was banned from every show at New York and Paris fashion week, thus giving the movie less of a fashion focus than on Baron Cohen’s TV show.) Would there be a next Ali G or Borat movie? Only if Baron Cohen goes to a country where he isn’t recognized—watch out for an Ali G in Japan.

2 stars/5 stars

Coming up next time:  Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

More posts by Madison Shimoda »
Madison Shimoda

Born in Johor Baru, Malaysia, and raised in Tokyo, Japan, Madison Shimoda is an award-winning writer, performer, and shopper. She now temporarily lives in the United States and working on a Bachelor's degree in Literature and Philosophy & Public Affairs at Claremont McKenna College. During her spare time, Madison likes reading poetry, shopping, and listening to jazz. She is currently working on the next great American novel.

 
 
 
 
  • http://kburke.org Kevin

    Yeah I thought there was really only one funny part – when the swinger chick is beating him with a belt, cause she wants to have sex and he escapes by jumping out the window

  • http://kburke.org Kevin

    Yeah I thought there was really only one funny part – when the swinger chick is beating him with a belt, cause she wants to have sex and he escapes by jumping out the window

  • Karthik Reddy

    The gay community is finally making headway with respect to equal rights and acceptance in American society. Brüno perpetuated negative stereotypes of gay men as sex-crazed, perverted, and lacking self-control. Cohen did our community a disservice by airing the gay community’s dirty laundry for the country to see. I live in a coastal city in a relatively liberal state so my friends laughed at Brüno’s ridiculous and exaggerated nature, knowing that gays and lesbians, just like anyone else, are capable of love, parenting, and a career outside of fashion. I seriously doubt that those uncomfortable with gay rights would have walked out of Brüno feeling more comfortable with the notion of two men raising children together.

  • Karthik Reddy

    The gay community is finally making headway with respect to equal rights and acceptance in American society. Brüno perpetuated negative stereotypes of gay men as sex-crazed, perverted, and lacking self-control. Cohen did our community a disservice by airing the gay community’s dirty laundry for the country to see. I live in a coastal city in a relatively liberal state so my friends laughed at Brüno’s ridiculous and exaggerated nature, knowing that gays and lesbians, just like anyone else, are capable of love, parenting, and a career outside of fashion. I seriously doubt that those uncomfortable with gay rights would have walked out of Brüno feeling more comfortable with the notion of two men raising children together.

  • Borat was Better

    I walked out of that movie realizing that we should NEVER allow gay adoption. Think of the little kids sleeping one room over (or maybe in a crib in the same room) as two men who are inserting objects and hamsters into each others rectums.

  • Borat was Better

    I walked out of that movie realizing that we should NEVER allow gay adoption. Think of the little kids sleeping one room over (or maybe in a crib in the same room) as two men who are inserting objects and hamsters into each others rectums.

  • I agree

    This movie set the public gay agenda back by at least ten years.

  • I agree

    This movie set the public gay agenda back by at least ten years.