If I see one more picture of Sacha Baron Cohen writhing around in leather hot pants as gay Austrian fashionista Bruno, I shall go on a killing spree.
Say this for Baron Cohen: he doesn't shy away from publicity (in character only of course. We'll never know the real man behind the mask). This creation is everywhere. Endless pics of him bending over in leopard-print tanktops and arse-revealing short shorts are on the front of every magazine, in every newspaper in which Bruno takes over editing the pop page for a day, and bitchily disses anyone famous. Funny! Then there are the awful interviews written in this annoying pidgin German/English hybrid are not only not funny but almost impossible to read. It's so clunky.
So what I'm saying is: enough already! We get it. He's a camp, clueless European who pushes the boundaries by knowingly putting his foot in it. How brave! And Bruno's gay, which only adds to the amazing shock factor. Look at the clothes! How outrageous! I think Sacha Baron Cohen is enjoying all this just a little bit too much...
Anyway, just like Borat, another unfunny creation seen off by publicity overkill and another film I've yet to see, these characters get under the skin of middle America and cause controversy wherever they go. And, er, that's the joke. Can't wait to see the film.
I never liked Ali G either. So shall we wave goodbye to Bruno now, before we all go off the idea?
God only knows what he's planning next
13 comments:
I have no wish to sit in a cinema full of Sun readers - well-known for their tolerance of gay rights, never forget - and so, if I ever see Bruno, it'll be on DVD from Lovefilm.
Quite often, when I see a comedian claim to be breaking down taboos about race, sexuality or disability (did I mention someone overrated from Reading?), I wonder why they keep going back to it. Is it really so they can expose the hypocrisy and prejudice of the general public, or merely so they can crack a lot of cheap jokes on the subject while doing so? It's hard to justify Sacha Baron Cohen's noises about combating homophobia when he's on the Bizarre page or chummying up to Chris Moyles.
The new issue of Time Out arrived on my desk this morning. Of course he's on the cover and of course I'm not going to read his 'contributions'. We know what he's going to say so why bother.
I wondered what Time Out was playing at a few weeks ago when they had Michael McIntyre on the cover with the screeching untruthful headline 'King of Comedy'.
And then I discovered that Mark Frith, formerly of Heat, is currently editing it.
I always feel it becomes a bit laboured and long winded when comedians are constantly in character as their latest creation - we know you're making it up - joke over. And isn't the Borat/Bruno format just a re-spin on Candid Camera and Beadles About
Steve Coogan's 'Tony Manero' was another one I gave swift shrift..
The victims in these films I do feel for. If you're told you're interviewing or being interviewed by this man (Borat, or Bruno) or whatever, you're going to believe it.
Even if he's outrageous or weird, you're hardly likely to suddenly declare him mad and walk off; people don't do that. people are accommodating and patient - not always of course - but if they've been primed for an interview with a Kazakstani doing a film about America you might expect it to be odd.
Then, afterwards, the audience acts with hilarity when this person doesn't 'get the joke', even though their face clearly shows a bemusement that's tempered to be polite, considerate etc (again, not always, but often).
Just not my form of funny.
I couldn't believe it when I wrote this post then TIme Out landed on my desk too - and look who was crouched arse-up in leather pants on the cover. Inside, the feature is as tedious as you could imagine.
I used to think with things like Brass Eye that celebrities were fair game for getting involved in bogus campaigns - up to a point. But what we can never quite know is how aggressive or underhand the tactics are from the programme or film makers? Even in Brass Eye, we're invited to laugh at someone like Claire Rayner, who never actually says anything stupid, but has just been edited around so that Chris Morris can make his 'beat me off' jokes.
SBC seemed to take that act wholesale and has made a whole career out of it.
While I think that prejudiced people need to be shown to be prejudiced, doing it without their permission for entertainment purposes - which is all Bruno is, in the end - seems suspect.
I actually find him quite funny – in small doses. Why do these things have to be stretched to breaking point? Did no one learn from the cinemaisation (IT'S A WORD, OK?) of Are You Being Served, On The Buses etc? Most comedy just doesn't suit the film format. Then again, the above examples were shit anyway.
PS It's called satire: you don't have to go the Mark Thomas "railing against The Man" route to expose the absurdity of modern attitudes.
PPS Don't I sound like the holier-than-thou prick now?
PPPS Did you see that Charlie Brooker show last night, FC? Like to hear your thoughts...
You do sound holier-than-thou Squirrel, mainly because that's what you're like.
No I didn't see the Charlie Brooker show. I"m not a fan. Those who did didn't think much of it.
Me + (Most British) Comedy = Stony Face, which is odd because I find myself totally hilarious.
I'm thrilled that so many (well quite a few) people are questioning this dull, sneery, predictable brand of comedy. He's done 'well' to milk his appeal this far, but I imagine (hope) this will be his last foray in 'character'.
I saw five minutes of the Charlie Brooker thing last night, and though I might just have picked a duff five minutes, it was awful - absolutely desperate. And I quite like his writing, in tiny doses.
Bring back Harry Worth.
I'm Dan Worth, is that enough?
The Brooker thing was fine, but it won't last a first season I think; why it was 50 minutes long though, I don't know.
I wondered if you were related. If you can do that shop window thing that Harry did - and that everyone did at school - then we'll know for sure.
Oh, that mirror joke; we're sick of it. Everywhere we go it's, do the mirror trick, do the mirror trick; well, I'm sick of the bloody mirror trick!
Nah, we're not related. Interestingly our first dog was called Harry.
Post a Comment