'Bruno' Makes All The World A Victim

The new Sacha Baron Cohen movie Bruno features multiple and extended instances of full frontal nudity and almost no group —Jews, Christians, African Americans - is left unscathed.

The movie is only rated R. If this doesn't merit an NC-17 rating, I'm not sure what would.

Gay rights groups have reportedly been concerned about Baron Cohen's portrayal of a gay fashion journalist, but they have the least to be concerned about.

Just as Borat ended up making everyone he encountered look worse than the Kazaks, Bruno comes across much more sympathetically than most of his victims/interviewees.

The movie doesn't come out until July 10th, but I was invited to an early screening in Hollywood.

I'll leave the reviewing to the professionals, but I will say that if the audience I saw the movie with is any indication, Bruno will be a big hit.

I've thought Baron Cohen is a comic genius ever since someone first showed me a DVD of Da Ali G Show.

 

I still think that, though there were a few parts of the new movie that did make me cringe more than laugh.

At one point, Baron Cohen is interviewing parents to find a baby to appear alongside his African American adopted son "OJ" in a mock crucifixion. He finds a stage mom so desperate to get her baby into showbiz that she agrees to subject the kid to just about anything short of outright death.

Why anyone would appear in Baron Cohen's movies escapes me. When Bruno meets former presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul in his airport hotel suite, it takes Paul way too long to figure out that Bruno is trying to seduce him for a sex tape.

(Spoiler Alert)

The movie ends with a musical number featuring Bruno with Snoop Dogg, Bono, Sir Elton John, and Chris Martin. The song is unlike anything ever seen in a Baron Cohen project; It's very conventional and only lightly pokes fun.

I'm sure the selection of the African American Snoop Dogg and openly Gay Elton John is no accident. The message seems to be: Everything you have just seen is all in good fun.

One more note: According to The Wall Street Journal, a scene where Bruno interviews Latoya Jackson and tries to steal her brother Michael Jackson's number off her Blackberry was cut just before last night's Hollywood premiere. "People close to the studio" told the Journal they don't expect the scene to be restored when Bruno is released in theaters.

Ben Bergman is a producer of Morning Edition based at NPR West.