Sacha Baron Cohen as Bruno.
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But Kaufman reserved his passive aggression for audiences, who because they were audiences were already primed for a performance of some kind, even if they didn't always get the joke. Baron Cohen takes his act out into the wider world, all for the fun of proving what fools these mortals be. That includes the mortals called Ali G, Borat and Brüno--Baron Cohen's comic characters are as dumb and deplorable as the people they mock. Ali G is a self-deluding white guy who yearns to be a black rapper. Borat is a rube and an anti-Semite. This is why the inevitable debate over whether the new film is a critique of homophobia or an incitement to more of it misses the point. Brüno sees everybody in the pejorative, including Brüno, who is trivial, narcissistic, mean to his devoted assistant and obsessed with cheesy fame. But even so, he's preferable to a lot of the people he meets, with their ignorance and prejudice, hypocrisy and primitive rage. Brüno may be a bumbler, but he holds all the cards--he's the character who turns out to be lovable, because how can you not love somebody who makes you laugh so hard? Hell, how can you not be in awe of somebody who can persuade a martial-arts instructor to demonstrate the many ways to defend yourself against a homosexual who attacks you from behind with two dildos? Ron Paul, take note.
Brüno could be looked at as the third in a trilogy of films that Baron Cohen has devoted to each of the three characters he developed first on British television and then on HBO. Though Ali G Indahouse was a hit in the U.K., it went straight to video in the U.S. Borat was, of course, a global cultural and box-office phenomenon, except maybe in Kazakhstan, where some people got a bit sniffy. Both characters are too famous now for Baron Cohen to use them anymore as a lure for the unsuspecting. Before the summer is out, Brüno will be too. So this may be the last film of this strange and brilliant kind that Baron Cohen can make for a while, maybe forever. Even Ron Paul wouldn't fall for Brüno anymore. But chances are you will, and hard.