by Jenny Jones

Briefly — because I will not waste anymore time on this movie — Bruno is the story of a flamboyantly gay TV host in Austria (played by Sacha Baron Cohen) who is fired from his job and black listed from the fashion world he loves. As a result, Bruno loses his long time lover and celebrity stature. In an attempt to regain the fame and popularity that he had become accustomed too, Bruno travels to Los Angeles and tries a number of “get rich quick” schemes but fails miserably at them all. He even goes so far as to try to reject his homosexuality and turn himself straight but it is only by embracing his gayness that Bruno finds true love, happiness and success. Sounds like a fairytale doesn’t it?

My mother always told me that if I didn’t have anything nice to say not to say anything at all, but in this case I think I’ll make an exception. What an idiotic waste of time this movie was. Sacha Baron Cohen IS a funny guy and he DOES create some extremely funny skits and characters but whoever keeps allowing him to write, produce and star in these crappy movies should be very ashamed of himself and must be stopped now so that I will not be subjected to a third installment of Sacha’s films.

His first film, “Borat”, although distasteful and offensive to everyone, was at least somewhat humourous. I am not condoning the crude and mocking behavior that Cohen exhibited in “Borat” but I do have to admit that it made me laugh at times. This latest film however only made me cringe and shudder in complete horror and utter disgust. Cohen’s parody of the homosexual lifestyle and the desire to be rich and famous went way beyond acceptable ridicule. His extremely vulgar language and offensive behavior in this movie felt like a desperate attempt to force laughter out of the audience instead of earning it through cleverly written dialogue or well choreographed scenes. There was absolutely nothing enjoyable about this movie. I could not wait for it to finish and at only 82 minutes, it felt like it would never end. The one positive remark that I can make about this movie is that, with all of the unpleasant scenes of sexuality and nudity displayed by Cohen and his pals, I am extremely grateful that I did not have to watch it in HD. This is definitely one movie that I can guarantee will not get a second viewing… EVER!

3/10