Brüno: The Brain Behind the Penis

Words by: Josh Roberts

After being fired from his Austrian fashion show, Brüno (Sacha Baron Cohen) decides to try and break America. Now with most characters this would be simply a turn of phrase. However Brüno, with its pseudo-documentary style, seems to have adopted a literal translation of this expression.
Brüno interviews celebrities, foreign dignitaries and even known terrorists in order to make a name for himself in the USA. The story follows his adventures with his besotted assistant as they try and secure Brüno a place on the A-list.
What appears to start as collection of lewd and often flinchingly uncomfortable sketches created by Baron Cohen soon becomes an incredibly smart and witty comedy highlighting and satirising the homophobia and prejudice displayed by the featured contributors. Providing you look deep enough there’s also a quite a charming love story running throughout the narrative. However I wouldn’t suggest watching it snuggled up on the sofa with a loved one. It could raise unpleasant questions…amongst other things, potentially.
Since his beginnings with the iconic character Ali G in the mid-90’s, Baron Cohen has constantly pushed the boundaries with the concept of celebrity interviews and public stunts. This film, once again, blurs the line between art and reality with a hilarious concoction of real-life interviews interspersed with a compelling narrative. The plot is reminiscent of Baron Cohen’s previous blockbuster hit Borat, chronicling the complicated relationship shared between the eponymous character and his assistant.
The huge yet unlikely success of Borat, grossing over £150 Million worldwide, seems to have given Baron Cohen greater confidence in relation to his latest creation’s public stunts. Borat included scenes where Baron Cohen disrupted a live television broadcast, abducted Pamela Anderson and a wrestled naked in a heavily populated hotel. However these all appear tame in comparison to his most recent exploits.
Brüno collects his adopted African child O.J. from an airport baggage carousel, appears on an American talk show where he recalls how he swapped his iPod for the child and attempts to film a sex-tape with Republic Congressman and previous Presidential “runner-up” Ron Paul.
As previously mentioned Brüno interviews the aforementioned terrorist, leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. He continues to retell how he believes Osama Bin Laden (or as he likes to call him- King Osama) reminds him of “dirty wizard” or a “homeless Santa”.
Possibly the most shocking stunt is featured in the final moments of the film at Straight Dave's Man Slammin' Maxout where you genuinely fear for the cast and crews safety after the surrounding crowd begin hurling projectiles.
Providing you like your humour rude, uncomfortable and with excessive amounts of full frontal male nudity you will relish every 81 penis filled minutes of Brüno. Similarly if you prefer witty musing about homophobia, American popular culture and the world’s obsession with celebrity there is something here for you also.