Brüno should be banned because it sucked harder than Lutz. Borat was a brazillion times better.

I didn't enjoy Borat; I enjoyed this. And I didn't find anything offensive about it. It was absurd, yes, but for those of us who are offended by a man's penis or two men kissing, it's honestly time to move on.

Zorya: There was nothing in the movie more cringeworthy for me than the parents willing to do anything to make their kids famous.

I bet that's one of the few things these folks don't have a problem with.

Exploiting kids? Just fine

Acting gay? WHARRGARBL!

Texas group

All you need to know right there! :-) (Mostly joking, have lots of friends and relatives around Hou, SA, etc.)

Seriously, though, legislating taste is anti-American. A film, show, song, book, poster, website, ..., might very well be crass, boorish, feeble-minded, infantile, formulaic crap. Then don't observe them if you don't like them. That's exactly what I plan to do with any Cohen release!

What's wrong with a group writing OP/ED's to educate others about it, even gathering like-minded people to threaten sponsors with boycots?

Let me guess...These folks are supposedly small-government, pro-responsibility Republicans; am I right or am I right?

"It is a rated-R film, so adults can choose to see it or not see it,"

So americans are forced see every movie that's not rated R? Well, finally all these outrages make sense!

Meh...

Humor is of course in the eyes of the beholder, but my wife and I went last night and we nearly died laughing. It wasn't as good as Borat and, just like Borat, almost certainly won't hold up to repeat viewing, but it made me laugh, and what else do I want from a comedy?

Oddly, as someone pointed out up thread, knowing at least some German makes the movie even funnier which is odd since so few audience members will know German.

I thought two of the funniest bits were the "interview" with Harrison Ford and the naming of the actors in "German".

/Wilhelm Schmidt
// Bradolf Pittler
/// Der Fuehrer

FTFA: "It is a rated-R film, so adults can choose to see it or not see it," he said.

You see, this line of thinking should trump everything. If your group is aiming to prevent individuals from, let's face it...thinking thinking something, then your organization should be outed for what it is. Anti-American. George Orwell would be proud of his foresight if these douchebags would gain massive amounts of legislative control. God forbid.

Now, if they'd just try to educate and encourage boycotts, I'd support them even if I didn't agree with their POV...

"It's this sort of thing that will give our youth the fagnasties."

Strike that extra 'thinking' from up there! :-p

I guess "pro-family" does not equal, or overlap, with "pro-American". I suppose these people do not celebrate the fourth of July, or reflect upon how lucky they are to live in a free country. Because they sure are in an awful hurry to censor something they don't agree with.

I hadn't particularly cared to see Bruno, but if these asshats get any traction towards banning it, I'll have to buy a ticket on principle.

SBC is at his best when he exposes other people as racist, sexist, anti-Semite, or what-have-you (as he did in the frat boy scene of Borat). He's less entertaining when he prods people who are not any of the above just to get a reaction, or behaves badly himself to make a point, as when Borat fled a bed and breakfast b/c he realized the owners were Jewish.

He's really more of a performance artist than a comedian.

Sir_Dude: Me thinks the tali-baptists are mad since Cohen made them look bad not once but twice in a half decade. In a different character, nontheless.
Didn't they learn the first time?

/waiting for video at the movie cube

I LOVE THAT!!! "Tali-baptists!" I grew up surrounded by these farkers.

"the biggest Austrian star since Hitler"

Priceless.
That alone is too hilarious.

Remember the utterly atrocious anti-Semitism from Borat?

I don't recall any Jewish groups boycotting that picture.
Maybe because they are smart enough to recognize blatant absurdity.

How about banning the movie because it looks terrible?

Oh gawd, it's just a funny movie...I saw it yesterday, theater was packed and nobody walked out. I see arthouse films all the time and people regularly walk out of those, so I don't know if that's a good metric to judge a film.

Anyway, people who hate gay people will hate this film. People uncomfortable with raunchy portrayals of sexuality or penises won't like this film. If you're not too uptight or a hardcore christian you will find this thing pretty funny.

Even if you don't like it, there's nothing to get offended about.

meehaw: Sir_Dude: Me thinks the tali-baptists are mad since Cohen made them look bad not once but twice in a half decade. In a different character, nontheless.
Didn't they learn the first time?

/waiting for video at the movie cube

I LOVE THAT!!! "Tali-baptists!" I grew up surrounded by these farkers.

I first heard that from Molly Ivins, I think she credited Jim Hightower. I miss Molly.

Somacandra: Have they never seen themselves naked? And if you want to see Kelly LaBrock's pubes, just rent The Woman In Red.

O RLY? Never saw that one, and my wife looks a lot like Kelly LaBrock...

/off to Netflix

Step 1. Make a movie that could offend someone
Step 2. Get free publicity from people trying to ban or boycott it
Step 3. Profit

I saw Brüno last night. It was the worst movie I've ever sat through. From beginning to end it was just a movie trying to push the envelope and piss people off, nothing more. It seemed like they forgot that they were trying to make a comedy while they were being assholes. It has it's funny moments (the Dominatrix scene comes to mind) but those are few and far between. He got the balance between shock value and comedy right with Borat, but he just tipped the scales too much here.

/Gayest movie I've ever seen

I saw it. Not as good as Borat, but okay. Wish the theater was more packed.

Archie Goodwin: "It's a little much," Phan said. "I wasn't offended; it was just a little too much. No other movie has taken it that far."

Hypocrite much? He wasn't offended by the movie, yet he doesn't want others to make up their own minds about whether they are offended by it?

Reading comprehension much? This isn't a dude described as a person leading the charge...he's just a guy who bought a ticket and didn't like what he saw. I missed the part in the story where he took to homemade signs and started a boycott march, or joined a letter writing campaign.

offensive and loaded with inappropriate sexual content

Did not have time to RTFA, but who they talking about?

The Republican Party?

Abagadro: Heck, it has an even more shocking "moving orifice" than PF that wasn't even blocked out.

I think the singing butthole in Pink Flamingos was more shocking.

I'm just amused that 4 people who went to see it walked out because they were offended- wtf were they expecting?

sweetmelissa31: I'm just amused that 4 people who went to see it walked out because they were offended- wtf were they expecting?

They were expecting that they would be offended, and then they could walk out and attention would finally be turned toward them for a few moments during their melodramatic gesture.

And they were right.

There definitely was some parts of Bruno i could do without

but a couple of scenes were just priceless

the hunting bit ... when he looks at the stars and says how it makes him think of all the hot guys and those poor fellers he was with just froze... damn they couldn't even look up from staring at the ground. all 3 just suddenly froze. couldn't . even . move.

the cage match, and of course the baby auditions

half of the movie i could do without, half was funny and the remaining half made it worth every penny.

R ratings don't mean the movie is offensive. R ratings just mean they put the word "motherfarker" in there two or three times so people would go see it, because nobody will go see a PG-13 movie.

/the sad thing is, this is really how many people think

DD0: I saw Bruno last night in Texas.

About 8 people got up and walked out at the same time and the 'older' couple sitting in front of us confused the shiat out of me. The guy covered his wife's eyes for almost the entire movie. Why are these people there? Why? So they can complain about it like this. Don't go see the farking movie if you don't like the subject matter. Plain and simple.

And the movie was fantastic. I loved watching it in a theater where 70% of the people in there are the butt of the joke on the screen and don't even realize it.

So you were in teh 30% who were the cock of the jokes and realized it?

/That move was farked up.
//laughed my pooper off the entire time.
///got in free. Sister manages the theater.
////actually haven't paid to see a movie in 25 years.
//slashies

Mister Peejay: R ratings don't mean the movie is offensive. R ratings just mean they put the word "motherfarker" in there two or three times so people would go see it, because nobody will go see a PG-13 movie.

/the sad thing is, this is really how many people think

Although I never saw Up, I wish they would have had Ed Asner say "motherfarker" a few times to bump the movie to an R-rating.

the wrestling team interview hooked me on Bruno the first time i saw it. stay with it through the first minute, it's worth it

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TheOther:

Cohen probably set up the Cohen protest for the Cohen publicity for Cohen's movie.

/Cohen

Bingo.

craigdamage: "the biggest Austrian star since Hitler"

Priceless.
That alone is too hilarious.

Remember the utterly atrocious anti-Semitism from Borat?

I don't recall any Jewish groups boycotting that picture.
Maybe because they are smart enough to recognize blatant absurdity.

Could help that he is a Cohen.

rathoth: basemetal: Meh, if you are dumb enough to pay money to see that crap, no legislation can help you.

Oooh. Your shtick is the One Liner Fallacy Troll.

You have no idea what my shtick it but you should fork over five bucks and find out, you would probably be very entertained.

The movie was terrible, but it had a lot of funny moments (eg the velcro suit). But with the things that were shown, it should definitely be rated NC-17.

No 10 year old kid who cons their parents into taking them should see a screen-sized cock bouncing around on the screen for 30 seconds.

/awful

Dextro: No 10 year old kid who cons their parents into taking them should see a screen-sized cock bouncing around on the screen for 30 seconds.

It's just a penis, half the population of the earth has one, what's the big farking deal?

A little hint to all the conservative groups protesting this movie-

you're doing just what Cohen wants you to do...

Dextro: No 10 year old kid who cons their parents into taking them should see a screen-sized cock bouncing around on the screen for 30 seconds.

so they shouldn't go see watchmen

Murphyr: Abagadro: And Caligula is rated-X porn,

It was unrated, actually, and stars Malcolm McDowell, John Gielgud, Peter O'Toole and Helen Mirren and though it was later disowned, it was written by Gore Vidal. I've never seen it, but it did have a theatrical release, so it's not like it's some no-name porno.

I saw it. It failed as a film and as porn.

Dextro: The movie was terrible, but it had a lot of funny moments (eg the velcro suit). But with the things that were shown, it should definitely be rated NC-17.

No 10 year old kid who cons their parents into taking them should see a screen-sized cock bouncing around on the screen for 30 seconds.

/awful

As the father of a 10-year old, no parent should be getting conned in to taking their kid to any film.

I don't like Sasha Baron Cohen, so I'm all for banning his movies.

/Keanu Reeves next please
//then Larry the Cable Guy

if it's not as good as Borat, I don't want to see it, because I only thought Borat was funny about half the time. The other half was embarrassing and cringe-inducing.

That said, I think SBC is a talented mofo. I just don't care for him making people look like idiots all the time. The idiots--fine. People who are being nice to him and trying to help him out--not funny. I've been sucked in by con artists before and if someone did something like this to me, I'd punch him in the face. Even SBC.

loonatic112358: Dextro: No 10 year old kid who cons their parents into taking them should see a screen-sized cock bouncing around on the screen for 30 seconds.

so they shouldn't go see watchmen

My five year old loved that movie.

Offended by a movie? Don't go see it. Don't like what's on TV? Change the f*cking channel. Banning movies/TV shows because you don't like them is wrong.

I saw Bruno and it was funny as hell. It is definitely not a movie for kids but hey, that's what the 'R' rating is for.

A few months back I got my first and only greenlight by posting an article from this exact same group who were trying to get "Watchmen" rated NC-17 and banned.

They are just a hardcore, nutjob evangelist group and things like this are why they are seeing their membership and influence drop faster than republican chances of a Palin presidency.

burning_bridge: I am offended by this thing I had to go out of my way to find and pay for myself on my own free time that was rated R and every review made it very clear how raunchy it would be.

Offended!!!

Thread win!

/flyover country right winger that LOL'd at
the movie last night

I've been watching the Ali-G/Borat/Bruno show since 2005, so im really getting a kick.

Dextro: No 10 year old kid who cons their parents into taking them should see a screen-sized cock bouncing around on the screen for 30 seconds.

Why not? It's not as if it would harm anybody.

/awful

You've never seen a penis before?

CrossEyed: Is there actual funny stuff in the movie, or do the ads show the only parts that are suitable for TV?

Funny is subjective.


Bigger Leftist Intarweb Schlong: farking Texas...

Read the farking article & thread, idiot. This group is not out of Texas.

REALLY? NO SHIAT!

bobbette: Murphyr: Abagadro: spqr_ca: Nevertheless, it was released to regular cinema.

Not widely distributed. This is kind of a pointless semantics argument, but Caligula (nor any of those other films) were released on 2800 screens like Bruno is. I just saw it tonight in a theater that refused to show Brokeback Mountain for hell's sake.

Well, yeah, I guess if the line is "as widely distributed as Bruno" then most of those films don't make the cut (I remember Shortbus being pretty widely distributed, but then I live in a city, so it's possible that my perception's off). Still, that list is only of "mainstream" films that had unsimulated sex. Include movies that have simulated sex or actually consider violence (I'm actually going to have to go and look at movieguide's reviews of some random violent movie to see if he's anywhere near as offended) and I'm sure we could get a few more that approach Bruno, but, as I said, I haven't seen it yet, so I don't know.

This thing was definitely raunchier than Shortbus. Shortbus didn't have a meatspin, although it did have autofellatio...

Salo was way raunchier, obviously, but I don't know if it had wide release exactly...

I have to say... as someone who went through a prominent art school in the NE, loved the dirtyness of Duchamp, has seen Karen Finley back in the day, seen John Waters at his best/worst (desperate living arguably) , read DeSade, Bataille, Apollinaire (ten thousand rods etc), watches porn and having a gf that likes porn and makes some beautifully peverse art...

pasolini's film is the only thing to ever scar me- call me a coward in the face of the potential brutality of the human spirit, but I had to leave the room during the feast scene...