Originally Posted By DAR I was a fan of Borat. But this was just really unfunny to the point of being embarrassing. And I know he uses these films to show how society acts. But most of it save for one scene really comes across as mean spirited. Look I was a little cranky with a few of you here but I'm going to save you $10 by telling not to see this film.
Originally Posted By Anatole69 Rotton tomatoes gives it a terrible percentage: <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bruno/?critic=creamcrop" target="_blank">http://www.rottentomatoes.com/...reamcrop</a> I have been hearing bad things about it myself. - Anatole
Originally Posted By DAR Ah no. I thought Borat especially the first 45 minutes of that film were take your breath away funny. In fact I was laughing so hard I was actually shushed in the theater. I think the Trey Parker and Matt Stone from South Park and they also made Team America are comedic geniuses. I love love love Family Guy. This movie just wasn't all that funny. I will tell you the one scene that made me laugh. The focus group who was watching the preview of his tv show. Their reactions were the best part.
Originally Posted By Anatole69 This thread probably should be in General Entertainment and not WE. - Anatole
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "Rotton tomatoes gives it a terrible percentage:" Some of the best movies are hotly divided between "love it" and "hate it." If you only see movies that have an 80-100 percent rating on a review aggregate site then you're missing a lot of good movies.
Originally Posted By DAR Anatole your probably right but I figured if it turned into a discussion about society in general it'd end up back here anyway. Where it goes it goes I guess.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "I thought Borat especially the first 45 minutes of that film were take your breath away funny." What makes Borat funny and Bruno not funny when Bruno is essentially the same crap? Is the image of a pretend gay dude getting one-over on straight people too much to handle? I wonder if Borat was easier to swallow with people who actually agree with some of Borat's fictional views...
Originally Posted By DAR Bruno is not a sympathetic character, he's not likeable. While Borat does pull the same schtick you kind of like him in a really weird and twisted sort of way. <<Is the image of a pretend gay dude getting one-over on straight people too much to handle?>> No the problem is the movie isn't funny.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones Sure, but I wonder about reviews from other people who pull the same, "I loved Borat but hated Bruno!" stuff. Borat has naked dudes running through a hotel and wrestling with each other, but it's not sexual. Bruno has naked dudes simulating bizarre sex acts. If I have any complaint about Bruno, it's that it wasn't NC-17 as planned. I guess I will just have to wait for the DVD.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "Bruno is not a sympathetic character, he's not likeable. While Borat does pull the same schtick you kind of like him in a really weird and twisted sort of way. " How do you like Borat? Both characters are designed to defraud people into thinking they are real people who misunderstand America, who then get away with most of their antics based on that misunderstanding. Oh, Borat can take a dump in a plastic baggie and it's okay, and me, the great American must teach this savage the proper way to act. Both movies are mean spirited and make their subjects uncomfortable. There are even instances in both movies where real people, not actors, can be physically hurt. So no, I don't get the "I love Borat but not Bruno" argument. In fact, I think most subjects were less patient with Bruno than they were of Borat. Borat was just a misunderstood foreigner, but I think people got fed up with Bruno more quickly because he was a really effeminate homosexual. In the scene with the black TV audience, the crowd was showing their disapproval of Bruno's gay lifestyle *before* he started his crazy antics. He just wanted to find the right guy.
Originally Posted By DAR <<Borat has naked dudes running through a hotel and wrestling with each other, but it's not sexual.>> That was one part I didn't find all that funny. <<Bruno has naked dudes simulating bizarre sex acts.>> Look if two men are in love with each other that's great. Or if they get together for a fling I won't stop anyone. What you do in private is nobodies business but yours. But that doesn't mean I want to see a movie where some rather extreme simulated sex acts take place between two men. That doesn't make me a homophobe. It makes me not interested and doesn't appeal to me as being funny.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones He slingshotted the guy onto his crotch! The Three Stooges have finally been bested.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones I guess the appeal for me is that it's so insane to watch and the icing on the cake is that it makes you and others squirm uncomfortably. Barbara Walters had a similar reaction. She too thought the movie was mean to the "little people," but she liked when celebrities were goofed on. Little people? Who the hell is she? Are we to bow down to Barbara Walters because she is protecting the interests of the poor serfs? Give me a break.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones Forgot the video of Walters: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OnjOZTvXFE" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...jOZTvXFE</a>
Originally Posted By gadzuux I saw it last weekend, and while it was funny, it was also a squeamish funny. I genuinely felt bad for many of his targets - they didn't do anything to deserve the clowning they get. For example, Ron Paul. We may never know how he got roped into that hotel room while bruno is seducing him and dropping his pants, and it's "funny" to watch him wig out, but it IS meanspirited, and the guy is played for a fool - all for our entertainment. Leaves a bad taste. Or the country bumpkins who take him on a hunting trip. Before we're done he's unzipping their tents in the middle of the night and crawling in naked on them - what are these guys supposed to do? SBC is being fearless and foolish at the same time. And sometimes funny isn't enough - especially when it veers into disrespectful behavior. Often the "joke" is playing on stereotypes of gay men being predatory and promiscuous. A couple of gags involve gay parenting and gay marriage that touch on raw nerves in the american psyche. They're funny "for me" - because I bring my own gay urban sensibility to the movie and can see the satire for what it is. I'm not so sure that's true for all the mall movie goers across the nation though. To many of them, this just confirms their worst suspicions. It's also a "hard R", with scenes that may or may not be simulated sex - I'm thinking of the hetero swingers club in Texas that he visits. Along with a whole slew of penetration sight gags that are as gross as they are silly. And doubtless the DVD will be even raunchier. So yeah - I laughed. But I also was made a bit uneasy by it. By the time it was over, I was glad for it to end and to just get out of the theater. I hope the movie doesn't do well. I'd rather not see this movie have any perceptible kind of cultural impact, and honestly I don't think it will - at least nowhere near the impact that 'Borat' had. Too many people would miss the joke entirely, so it's better for everyone that they never see it in the first place.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "To many of them, this just confirms their worst suspicions. ... Too many people would miss the joke entirely, so it's better for everyone that they never see it in the first place." That's like telling Chris Rock not to make jokes at the expense of blacks because some people might not get the joke, and are really racists. Ron Paul storms out of the room screaming about queers. I think the segment showed his true colors.
Originally Posted By Rider 1 Even theater owners here in Ireland think the film is bad. Here is a link on YouTube from a Cinema here advising people that it is vile and not to complain after watching it: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M85H51TUNEs" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...H51TUNEs</a>
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo well, I liked Borat, but I doubt i will ever bother with this one, if someone even offered to pay me to see it.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "well, I liked Borat, but I doubt i will ever bother with this one, if someone even offered to pay me to see it." You've got to be kidding me. It's exactly the same type of film as Borat. Where are these opinions coming from?
