DVD Review

DVD Review: Bruno

bruno-posterBruno is a film starring Sasha Baron Cohen, a follow up to his star making film Borat. Bruno follows the same documentary style of Borat but is not a satisfying as that film. Situations seemed more forced in Bruno than they did in Borat. Cohen commits to the obnoxious persona of Bruno in everyway, yet his character does not possess the innocence or ignorance of Borat. Because of this, the viewer cannot forgive Bruno for a large portion of the things he does or says. Fortunately, for the film, Bruno houses more funny moments than are expected, especially at the end of the film, involving (spoiler) Straight Dave’s Man Slammin’ Max Out. Straight Dave is so straight when he bought his house he had his back door bricked up.  There is a very telling sequence where he starts chanting: “Straight Power”, where “Straight” could have easily been replaced with another word. (end of spoiler) This is hands down one of the funniest scenes in the film.  Cohen may have discovered another viable persona alongside Ali G (a U.S. mainstream movie s evitable) and Borat.

Deleted Scenes:

The two stand-out deleted scenes in Bruno are Pete Rose. Seeing Rose get pissed that his living “Mexican” chair is getting tired and that he needs a new one was insane.

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Extended Scenes:

Most are extraneous except for the Latoya Jackson scene and the baby casting, which showed the extent to what parents will let their children endure to get paid off them and get them cast.

During the Fashion Montage, the viewer is shown Bruno making a bigger ass of himself during Fashion Week in Milan. Amongst many other fashion dignitaries, when model Heather Hahn says she has been in therapy because of how beautiful she happens to be (with a straight face and serious), the viewer realizes that this scene should have been kept in the film. Hahn is so oblivious to how egocentric what she just said was its hysterical.

And then there was Home Realtor that instructed Bruno of which non-US servants he could beat, get away with it, and which ones would not show bruising from the beatings.

Interview:

There is an interview of Bruno’s agent, Lloyd Robinson, detailing how Cohen duped him and how he eventually found out. Notice how his beard and moustache are different colors during the interview.

Final Thoughts:

Bruno is an entertaining film when you first see it but it does not have the legs for more than a few viewings. Bruno is not the second coming of Old School or even the second coming of Borat. It’s funny and comments on the underbelly of our society but Borat does all of those better.

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Rollo Tomasi

Rollo Tomasi is a Connecticut-based film critic, TV show critic, news, and editorial writer. He will have a MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2025. Rollo has written over 700 film, TV show, short film, Blu-ray, and 4K-Ultra reviews. His reviews are published in IMDb's External Reviews and in Google News. Previously you could find his work at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and AltFilmGuide. Now you can find his work at FilmBook.
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