Brüno

Name	Brüno
Caption	Promotional film poster
Director	Larry Charles
Producer	Sacha Baron CohenJay RoachDan MazerJonah Hill
Screenplay	Sacha Baron CohenAnthony HinesDan MazerJeff Schaffer
Story	Sacha Baron CohenPeter BaynhamAnthony HinesDan Mazer
Starring	Sacha Baron CohenGustaf HammarstenClifford BañagaleHarrison FordRon Paul
Music	Erran Baron Cohen
Cinematography	Anthony HardwickWolfgang Held
Editing	Scott DavidsJames Thomas
Studio	Media Rights Capital
Distributor	Universal Pictures
Released
Runtime	81 minutes
Country
Language	EnglishGerman
Budget	$42 million
Gross	$138,805,831

Brüno (pronounced as Bruno) is a 2009 mockumentary comedy film directed by Larry Charles and starring Sacha Baron Cohen, who produced, co-wrote, and starred as the gay Austrian fashion journalist Brüno. The film is the third based on characters from Da Ali G Show, following Ali G Indahouse and .

Plot

Gay Austrian fashion reporter Brüno is fired from his own television show, Funkyzeit mit Brüno (Funkytime with Brüno) after disrupting a Milan Fashion week catwalk (whose audience included Paul McCartney), and his lover Diesel (Clifford Bañagale) leaves him for another man. Accompanied by his assistant's assistant, Lutz (Gustaf Hammarsten), he travels to the United States to become "the biggest Austrian superstar since Hitler".

Brüno unsuccessfully attempts an acting career as an extra on NBC's Medium. He then interviews Paula Abdul, using “Mexican chair-persons” in place of furniture (Abdul goes along with the Mexican chair-persons motif while explaining how she aspires to help people, until a naked man, wearing a condom, and whose body is adorned with sushi, is wheeled into the room on a cart) then produces a celebrity interview pilot, showing him dancing erotically, criticizing Jamie-Lynn Spears' fetus with reality TV star Brittny Gastineau, unsuccessfully stalking and attempting to “interview” actor Harrison Ford, and closing with a close-up of his penis being swung around by pelvic gyrations before screaming "BRUNO!" from its urethra, then zooming into it. A focus group audience who review the pilot hate it, calling it "worse than cancer". Other advice suggests creating a sex tape, so Brüno interviews Ron Paul, whom Brüno claims to have mistaken for drag queen RuPaul. While waiting in a hotel room for a staged technical problem to be fixed, Brüno hits on Paul, who leaves angrily and calls him "queer as blazes".

Brüno consults a spiritualist (Gary Williams) to contact the deceased Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli for advice, miming various sex acts on the invisible "Pilatus". He consults charity PR consultants Nicole and Suzanne DeFosset to select a world problem to maximise his fame, choosing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He flies to Jerusalem to interview former Mossad agent Yossi Alpher and Palestinian politician Ghassan Khatib and confuses hummus and Hamas. In an interview with Israeli and Palestinian professors he sings his own "Dove of Peace" while forcing the two to caress each other's hands. He also meets with Ayman Abu Aita, subtitled as "terrorist group leader, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades" in a location described as a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon (actually a restaurant near Bethlehem), where he hopes to be kidnapped. Brüno insults Abu Aita's hair then says that "King Osama" looks like a dirty wizard or a homeless Santa Claus. Abu Aita's translator orders Brüno to leave. He stops off in Nairobi to pick up a few things, including a child, saying he is "black gold".

Brüno interviews parents of child models, asking if their children would be ready to lose a lot of weight, undergo liposuction, be near "antiquated heavy machinery" or "amateur science", or be dressed in Nazi uniforms. On a talk show hosted by Richard Bey, he shows the African American audience a baby named O.J., whom he acquired in Africa by "swapping him" for a U2 Product Red iPod. He shows photographs of the boy covered with bees, on a crucifix and in a jacuzzi next to adults in a 69 position. The audience is appalled and social services take the baby from Brüno, driving him to depression, later found at a diner gorging on high-carb junk food. Lutz carries him back to a hotel room. After a night of sex, they awake to find themselves trapped in a bondage mechanism, unable to find the key. They call a hotel engineer for help and are asked to leave. After accosting a group of anti-gay protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church while still in bondage gear and boarding a bus, Brüno and Lutz remove their equipment at Madison County Office of Alternative Sentencing and Release in Huntsville, AL after being arrested. Lutz says he loves Brüno but Brüno tells him he does not love him, having been influenced by "carb goggles". Lutz leaves Brüno.

After realising the biggest names in Hollywood are straight (citing Tom Cruise, Kevin Spacey and John Travolta), Brüno consults two Christian gay converters to help him become heterosexual. He attempts activities, such as joining the National Guard, going hunting in Alabama, learning karate and attending a swingers party at which he is whipped by a dominatrix (played by pornstar Michelle McLaren). These attempts end miserably due to Bruno's failure to keep his gay traits hidden, but he vows to become straight.

Eight months later, a now-heterosexual Brüno, under the alias "Straight Dave", hosts a cage-fight match in Arkansas, "Straight Dave's Man Slammin' Maxout". Lutz appears at the event and calls Brüno a faggot. The two fight, only to rekindle their love, making out and stripping in front of the spectators who throw objects into the cage. The clip gets international press and the now-famous Brüno attempts to marry Lutz and get O.J. back in exchange for a MacBook Pro. Brüno records a charity song, "Dove of Peace", featuring Bono, Elton John (seated at a piano on a Mexican “chair-person”), Chris Martin, Snoop Dogg, Sting and Slash at Abbey Road Studios.

Deleted scenes

The trailers for the film shown in the US included a scene in which Brüno shops for clothing at Sears, telling the sales clerk "You might find this very hard to believe, but I'm gay" in which the clerk responds "Okay" while maintaining an awkward posture.

The DVD includes extended and deleted scenes, such as Bruno interviewing Pete Rose, trying to make the sex tape with John R. Bolton and Tom Ridge, becoming a reporter at NBC affiliate KETK-TV in Tyler, Texas, and attending a Proposition 8 rally.

Michael Jackson incident

Following the sudden death of Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009, a scene from Brüno was hastily removed from the film before its Hollywood premiere later that evening. The scene involved Brüno tricking LaToya Jackson into an interview in which he asked her to take a seat on hunched over Mexican workers substituting for chairs and invited her to eat sushi from the torso of a naked man. Brüno then asked LaToya to let him look at her mobile phone in order to get her brother Michael's phone number. The scene was later confirmed to be removed from the film permanently, but was included in the special features of the DVD and Blu-ray release.

Production

The theme song from the beginning of the film is "Nessaja" from German electronic dance music band Scooter, who also contributed to the theme to the Bruno segments on Da Ali G Show.

During Baron Cohen's Middle East interview of Alpher and Khatib, he repeatedly conflated Hamas and hummus and feigned belief that the conflict was between Jews and Hindus. The two interviewees (who had received a fee to appear on camera), convinced by the elaborate production, were confused by the questions but generally went along, even when asked by Baron Cohen to hold hands.

On June 6, 2008, a riot ensued at a stunt orchestrated by Baron Cohen and the producers of the film as they staged a "Blue Collar Brawlin'" in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Patrons were lured to an event billed as cage fighting, held at a convention center, by print and Craigslist advertisements, promoting "hot girls", $1 beer, and $5 admission. Approximately 1500 people attended the event and were greeted by signs that informed them that they were being filmed. No mobile phones, video, or cameras were allowed inside. The acts taking place became homosexual in nature, with Bruno inviting a man up to fight him, who turned out to be Lutz. Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" starts to play and they both start kissing and stripping, the place went wild and people threw chairs and beer at the performers. The performers were Brüno (Baron Cohen) under the ironic gimmick, "Straight Dave" and Gustaf Hammarsten portraying his opponent, Lutz.

In July 2008, Tyler, Texas television station KETK-TV was approached by a "documentary film-maker" who was allowed to bring a crew to interview a few members of the staff, including news director Neal Barton and sports director Danny Elzner. They signed releases and expected to be talking about small-town news in the United States. Instead, the interviews conducted by the flamboyant Brüno character drifted towards the topic of homosexuality.

In September 2008, video and photographs were released showing Baron Cohen (in character as Brüno) storming the catwalk with objects on his velcro outfit during an Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada fashion show in Milan, Italy (at which Paul McCartney also was present). Baron Cohen managed to walk down the runway for a few moments before lights were dimmed and security guards escorted him away. This occurred after Baron Cohen and his crew were allegedly stopped by security while attempting to enter back-stage at two other shows during Milan's fashion week.

On November 2, 2008, Baron Cohen, dressed as Brüno, and his film crew were spotted at a Los Angeles rally that was in support of California's Proposition 8. Though he appeared to fool most, he was recognized by some at the rally and whisked away before he could be interviewed by reporters.

On November 7, 2008, while appearing as an extra in a scene for the NBC TV series Medium, Baron Cohen interrupted a scene in character and was removed from the set. Production on the episode was shut down temporarily, though actor Miguel Sandoval, who was told that a cousin of NBC executive Ben Silverman would appear as an extra in the jury, has stated that he recognized Baron Cohen and played along, commenting, "It's one thing for Borat to go into an antique store in Georgia or Alabama. For Brüno to go on a TV show, he's among insiders. Most people knew who he was."

The production team also deceived former presidential candidate Ron Paul into being interviewed by Brüno by posing as an Austrian TV reporter looking to question the congressman about economic issues. The interview starts out normally, but after a staged technical error, Brüno suggests he and Dr. Paul wait in the other room while the crew fixes a light. It is there that Brüno turns on music and begins dancing, which Ron Paul ignores at first. However, as soon as Brüno drops his trousers, the congressman storms out of the room. A spokeswoman for Paul commented on the incident. She said Baron Cohen's people were very deceptive in their tactics. At the time, she thought they were "legitimate" but later confessed to some concern. "I'm familiar with his work, so you can imagine how I feel about it," she said. Jesse Benton, senior vice-president of Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty organization and former campaign spokesman for Paul, said Paul was not familiar with Baron Cohen's programme, Da Ali G Show. "If it's not on hard-core financial news, he doesn't follow it," Benton said. But, he added, "It sounds like it's going to be pretty funny.".

The scene filmed during a taping of The Richard Bey Show, however, was staged, as Bey was in on the joke, as his daytime show went off the air in 1996. The audience, however, was not made aware of the truth of the production. Similarly unaware of the true nature of the production was Paula Abdul, who, during her interview scene in the film, sat atop a Mexican landscaper and was presented with food adorned upon a man lying down on a cart wearing nothing but a "sock" over his penis. Abdul told a radio interviewer that she was "scarred" by the incident. Posing as a German documentary film crew, the producers falsely represented their project, and in e-mails obtained from the National Guard, they stated, "We have been exploring the fabric of America, telling the story of her citizens by visiting the workplace... While in the Huntsville, Alabama area, we would be honored to film with the Alabama National Guard. You are a strong and proud organization that carries out your challenging duties with bravery and class."

Nicole and Suzie DeFosset, the twins behind the public relation firm that Baron Cohen's character ostensibly goes to for advice about Darfur, claimed they realized the filming (they were paid to be on camera) was some kind of prank. They said they did not realize that they were part of the film until a friend contacted them 11 months after the incident.

Baron Cohen suffered a severe reaction to hydrogen peroxide after bleaching his hair in preparation for the role of Brüno. Although the incident temporarily slowed the production of the film, he suffered no long-lasting injuries.

The film's credits name many well-known writers who made small contributions of additional material and ideas, including Matt Lucas (former writer for the Channel 4 Ali G Show), Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (former writers for the HBO series), and Patrick Marber.

Release

Though the film was originally slated for a May 15, 2009 release, the release was later moved to July 10, 2009. The film received an early release in Australia, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Iceland on July 8 and in Germany, Greece, Ireland, Serbia, Slovenia, Israel, and Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 9, 2009. The film was then released internationally on July 10.

Promotion

In a staged publicity stunt at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, Sacha Baron Cohen appeared as Brüno to present the award for Best Male Performer. Dressed as a winged angel wearing a jockstrap and white go-go boots, he was suspended on wires and flew over the audience towards the stage, but fell and landed on rapper Eminem, with his head in Eminem's lap and his buttocks in front of Eminem's face. Eminem shouted, "Are you fucking serious?" and, "Get this motherfucker off me!", Eminem and his entourage then walked out of the show and did not return. It was later revealed that Eminem and Baron Cohen had staged the incident, rehearsing it beforehand to make sure it went off without a hitch, and leaving Eminem laughing to himself in his hotel room about how the crowd was easily fooled.

Brüno also appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien where he performed a lap dance for Conan O'Brien and briefly lowered his trousers in front of the host. He approximately did the same routine on French Canal+ show Le Grand Journal, lapdancing and showing his behind to host Michel Denisot, then eventually dropping the trousers to reveal flesh-colored thongs imprinted with a picture of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. On the same day he was parading half-naked, surrounded with dancers, on the Champs-Élysées.

Ban in Ukraine

In Ukraine, the film was scheduled to premiere on July 23, but on July 14, the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Ukraine decided to ban the distribution and demonstration of the film in the country. The reason for the prohibition was that nine out of 14 experts of a commission of experts said the film contained "obscene language, homosexual scenes, and other scenes of offensive nature never shown in Ukraine. An unofficial premiere of the film in Kiev on July 22, 2009 was disrupted by a smoke bomb.

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 17, 2009. Special features include deleted/extended scenes and an audio commentary by Sacha Baron Cohen and Larry Charles.

Reception

Reviews

Among critics and the public, Brüno has received mixed reviews. However, reviews of the premiere screenings of Brüno were generally positive among audiences. Nick Curtis of the Evening Standard wrote that Brüno is "funnier, more offensive, and more outrageous than Borat". The Telegraph gave the film four stars out of four, saying "impossible not to laugh and also praising Brüno's controversial style of comedy." The BBC also gave the film a positive review, saying "Brüno pushes the boundaries further than Borat ever did." However, they also said that "It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea" due to the offensive nature of the film. Roger Ebert awarded the film three and a half out of four stars, and said "Here is a film that is 82 minutes long and doesn't contain 30 boring seconds", although he noted that the film's R rating was "very, very hard".

Others felt it was not as good a comedy as it deserved to be, feeling it would insult and offend the gay community. Metacritic gives Brüno an average score of 54, suggesting "mixed or average reviews".

Andy Lowe from Total Film gave it a lower review, giving it three stars out of five and calling it "as phony and frustrating as it is funny... The clothes may be new and more fabulous, but the emperor seriously needs to go shopping." A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote that the film shows "that lampooning homophobia has become an acceptable, almost unavoidable form of homophobic humor," and called the film "a lazy piece of work that panders more than it provokes." At the Movies critic Ben Mankiewicz criticized the film for being too demeaning and playing on homosexual stereotypes. He later named Brüno the worst film at the halfway point of 2009.

The film, however, currently holds a 67% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is advertised as a "Certified Fresh Pick". For its opening weekend, it narrowly beat Ice Age 3 (in its second week of release) for the highest gross, in the lowest attended second-weekend-in-July in 18 years.

Reception in Austria

While Borat was highly criticised in Kazakhstan, Austrians were generally positive about Brüno. Some commented that the film places Austria in the spotlight, and that "it might stop people confusing Austria with Australia." Others regarded the humour as "pretty average" and "inoffensive to Austria." Within the Austrian press, reactions have been generally mild and positive, although the film has also been labelled as "repetitive". Christian Fuchs, from the Austrian radio station FM4, writes that "hidden beneath the hard-as-nails satirist Cohen, lies a humanist who enlightens." However, the film has also met some opposition in Austria, due to its portrayal of homosexuality, and basing the portrayal of Austria on motifs such as Josef Fritzl and Hitler, even going as far as calling Mel Gibson "der Führer".

Box office

Brüno topped the charts with $33 million in its first week. It has made $136,933,838 worldwide of which $60,054,530 was from Canada and the United States. "Sacha Baron Cohen's well-meaning attempt at satire is problematic in many places and outright offensive in others," Rashad Robinson, senior director of media programs for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) told The New York Times.

Lawsuit

On May 22, 2009, a charity worker at a seniors bingo game sued Baron Cohen, claiming an incident shot for the film at a charity bingo tournament left her disabled. However, the worker later retracted her statement saying the "actor never struck her", but that he "beat her down emotionally to the point she's now confined to a wheelchair." The scene did not make the final cut for the film.

Title

An alternative title for the film is Brüno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt. It was initially a mock title proposed by Hollywood news and gossip blog Defamer and mistakenly reported as genuine by a number of sources of film information, including MovieTome, where it is still used in the search results, the Daily Star, The Irish Times, The Boston Globe, and (although no longer) the Internet Movie Database. However, the official Brüno website lists the extended 'title' in its metadata.

Ayman Abu Aita lawsuit & Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades

On December 2, 2009, it was reported that Ayman Abu Aita, who claims he was falsely portrayed as a terrorist in the film, is filing a lawsuit of $110 million in libel damages for defamation. Ayman Abu Aita served in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an organization responsible for numerous suicide bombings from 2000 to 2003 and served two years in prison on charges relating to shootings against Israeli soldiers. However Abu Aita claims he is no longer active in the group and has been misrepresented in the film. For instance, Baron Cohen claims he set up a meeting with Abu Aita in the West Bank with the help of a CIA agent. According to the lawsuit, however, the interview with Abu Aita took place at a hotel chosen by Baron Cohen and located in a part of the West Bank that was under Israeli military control.Rumours of the lawsuit were speculated since Abu Aita went on a media blitz earlier in 2009, but the lawsuit was finally confirmed at a press conference on December 2. Included in the lawsuit are David Letterman, NBC Universal, CBS, Worldwide Pants, Gannett Company and Larry Charles.

Baron Cohen has said he had to increase his security detail following death threats from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade after the release of the film. The group was angered by the interview with Abu Aita in which he was linked with the group, an armed wing of the Fatah movement. In a statement to the media, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade denied that Abu Aita was a member and threatened that they "reserve the right to respond in the way we find suitable against this man (Baron Cohen)" and that they feel the segment was "a dirty use of our brother Ayman".

Motion Picture Association of America

On October 11, 2010, it was revealed that the Motion Picture Association of America's Classification and Rating Administration would specifically note in the future which films contained "male nudity." A spokesman said this was in direct response to parental concerns about the content of Bruno.

Notes and references

External links

The Best Bruno Website

Et Tu, Brüno? by Richard Kim, The Nation, July 10, 2009

Folks Duped by Sacha Baron Cohen in Carrollton are Really Mad by Michael Granberry, The Dallas Morning News, June 7, 2008

Category:2009 films Category:American films Category:English-language films Category:2000s comedy films Category:American comedy films Category:American LGBT-related films Category:American satirical films Category:Columbia Pictures films Category:Fashion films Category:Film spin-offs Category:Films set in Austria Category:Films shot in Arkansas Category:Media Rights Capital films Category:Mockumentary films Category:Universal Pictures films