All in all, I do not think I will bother driving to the multiplex for this one.
Call me low brow, but this was truly one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. Yes, I did like Borat, too, but this was 100 times funnier in my book. I was laughing so hard I was crying (“What about TWO dildos?”) and my sides still hurt an hour later.
The agreeing that hummus is tasty bit had me cracking up early on. That was great. The song at the end had me dying, too. The extended periods of awkward silence with the hunters was hilarious- you kept waiting for it to cut away or someone to say something, but nope. The super pumped redneck guy crying at the end of the cage match (or at least tearing up) had me in tears.
But mostly, it was a lot of the subtle stuff that had me laughing the hardest. Bully for Cohen, a Jew, going into a Lebanese “terrorist’s” home. The joke about getting married, so going to California was funny. Oh, while the swinger guy and chick were lecturing him for acting gay, the guy and chick in the foreground continuing their blow job, just slightly out of focus. Smaller stuff, but hilariously funny to me.
Anyway, I’d say it’s worth a watch. Too funny.
I haven’t seen the film, but I’ve read in some Norwegian newspapers that apparently the “terrorist leader” interviewed in the film might not be a terrorist leader after all. The only English-language information I can find goes back to this World Net Daily (I know, I know) article.
According to the article the interview took place in a popular restaurant rather than “a secret location” as claimed by Sacha Baron Cohen.
Aita is, of course, planning to sue.
Now, I don’t know if this is true or not, but if it is I think it’s quite serious. Claiming someone is a leader in a terrorist organization is not the same as wearing crotchless pants in inappropriate locations.
I am a huge fan of The Ali G show (which also featured Brüno). And parts of this movie were really well pulled off. (The fashion show, Paula Abdul, for instance.)
But for me it is a huge detriment to the movie that I don’t know what parts use actors and what parts are with real people. What is funny about hiring an actor pretending to be very homophobic, or pretending to be disgusted by his show trailer? Then that is just Cohen acting silly.
I hated Borat, so I will not be seeing this… thing.
I don’t know why you’d have to pay a middle-aged person (as an actor) to act disgusted at a talking penis. Same with getting Southern cage fight fans to react in a homophobic way. I think it’s pretty clear cut; the people reacting to Bruno are all real, and none of their reactions really surprised me. (Okay, except for the mom who would happily give her kid liposuction.) Everyone in the film who was used as a pawn in getting that reaction is an actor.
Here’s my IMHO list (off the top of my head) of everyone on screen that was “in” on the joke:
Bruno
Lutz
Asian boy-toy
O.J.
Talk Show Host
Dominatrix
The Mexican “Furniture”
Of course, I’m sure everything was well-staged and sometimes filmed multiple times. But that’s why I find it so interesting; it’s sort of hybrid scripted/improv/reality. The only thing I can think of that’s analogous to it, oddly, is the British show Top Gear, when they come to America or go to Vietnam and engage the locals in their scripted/improvised shenanigans.
ETA: Yes, the near-car accident was fake too. Anything that just involved the actors needn’t be “real.” I trust the champagne pouring wasn’t real either. 
I’m pretty sure that show screening was real. They didn’t seem like actors to me.
I know that the cage fighting scene was real too. I remember reading a couple of news articles about it when it was filmed. He did it at some state fair in some deep south state like Alabama or Texas or something. They put up a tent advertising a free wrestling show with free beer. You had to be 21 to get in. The response was real.
I read somewhere else where Cohen was saying that his favorite scene in the movie was in the Hassidic neighborhood in Israel, something else which he did for real.
The scene with the Israeli and Palestinian diplomats was real too (“When are you going to give back the pyramids? Why can’t Jews and Hindus get along?”).
I seem to remember having read something about the baby casting scenes being real too (and that Cohen himself was surprised at how far he was able to push it. He’d thought the moms would draw a line somewhere).
In retrospect now, I think my initial impressions that the movie was scripted were mistaken. Maybe it’s just that editing and story (such as it was) were tighter than Borat, so it seemed less scattershot and random, and even the unscripted scenes had a narative point.
I think the bravest scene for Cohen might have been when Bruno went crawling buck naked into one of the redneck hunters’ tents at 4 AM. Jesus, that guy’s got balls.
Thanks for coming in to the thread to let us know that, it’s extremely insightful and important information.
People left the theater when I saw it. How can you go to a movie, paying 9 dollars, and not know what you’re getting into? I enjoyed it myself.
What about the people in the scene where he was an extra? They were reacting to him. On the other hand, I can not imagine the tv people giving him so many chances. Also, the director who talked with him while he was getting an anal bleaching.
And if some of these people are actors, and also the dominatrix was, how would I know that a lot of the other people are not actors too?
How did you find out about this?
Nontheless, it appears to have been real. Sacha Baron Cohen Booted Off Medium Set.
I don’t think that was adirector, though. I thought he was just an agent.
From here (piece written by Yossi Alpher, the Israeli diplomat from the scene in question).
Hey thanks Dio.
It seems I was mistaken, and everything not obviously using actors, in fact was real. I have greatly increased appreciation of the movie now. A great work in exposing and mocking intolerance.
It was good. Not quite as funny as Borat IMO but good.
I agree that the bravest part was going to the hillbilly’s tent again, naked this time, after he was told to go the fuck away. I grew up with people who probably would’ve seriously shot him at that point.
Where Borat was probably 90% dicking with people and 10% social commentary, Bruno is more like 99:1.
A couple more random thoughts:
Although I’m sure the dominatrix was paid to follow a script, and therefore not as “real” as the others, it’s still possible that she wasn’t aware of Sacha Baron Cohen, and perhaps didn’t know exactly how he was going to make his escape.
In the same vein, I’m sure the agent was being well-compensated to put up with Bruno’s BS, even if he wasn’t aware of SBC.
As I watched the movie, I pondered how I’d pull off some of the stuff logistically. For instance, the anal-bleaching phonecall could be done at 2 different times. First film the agent’s end of the call while SBC calls from just outside. Then just reenact SBC’s side of the convo while at the salon.
And a little misdirection, and you can make it seem like a baby just slid down the conveyor belt at baggage claim.
Keep the behind-the-scenes articles coming; I love this stuff.
I finally saw this the other day and wasn’t impressed. I loved Borat but this one fell flat for me. It seemed like he was trying SO hard to get negative reactions to his exteme homosexuality and he failed. Instead he got extreme reactions to him being a fucking dickhead and doing dickheaded things that just happened to be part of his homoschtick until the other people burst at the seams. The scene with Ron Paul? I thought he was very reserved and only flipped out after SBC dropped his pants in the bedroom with him. The rednecks? They all seemed to be very respectful until SBC started trying to get into their tents with them with his cock out. The ANG OCS scene? No one reacted homophobically or said anything disrespectful but you could tell he was trying to get them to.
Like I said, the bad reactions in this movie were (mostly) reactions to him being an asshole who crossed the line many times from poking fun to mild sexual assault depending on how you see things.
The cock wagging during the screening wasn’t funny and no one reacted hatefully or jumped his shit when he came in the room. Though no one was happy to see his wagging cock but why should they be?
I don’t think he was trying to get homophobic reactions or make anybody look bad. I don’t know why so many people assume that was his goal. I didn’rt see it at all. I didn’t seem him especially being a dick to anybody either.
And the dick wagging thing was hilarious. The comedy was not supposed to be that the audience reactions were “hateful,” but that they were entirely justified. Bruno himself was the butt of many of the jokes, not the people he was playing off.
You and I come from very different lands, sir.
However, I agree the Ron Paul scene wasn’t funny.
The Ron Paul scene didn’t work. Conceptually it wasn’t a bad idea to see how a gay bashing politician (and Paul has made some very homophobic public statements in the past) would react to a ridiculous seduction attempt from a ridiculous caricature of gay sterotypes, but it just didn’t end up yielding anything particularly funny. With experimental comedy, you’re going to get some misses. Paul would have ended up looking pretty good if he hadn’t started yelling"queer" at the end.
Wasn’t the joke also that no one found it funny? At least that amused me. Like that humour teacher in a Borat scene who is teaching him about humour, “not jokes” specifically, but fails to see anything entertaining about Borats version of them.