Bruno
What?
I guess a lot was expected of Bruno after the runaway success of Borat. Sacha Baron Cohen’s brand of humor really hit the mark back in 2006. The key to the film’s success was the unexpected more than anything; not many people were aware of Borat at all. Making people look stupid is the simplest way of describing the style, insulting people would be another. The many ignorant American’s featured in the film played into Cohen’s hands making for a film that was half car crash TV and half genius comedy. With Bruno, for the most part, I’ve seen funnier car crashes.
The story of a sacked Austrian TV fashion show presenter in search of fame is one that could have worked alongside the Borat style. The problem is not the subject matter necessarily, but rather much of Bruno is hard to watch, in fact, some sequences are almost impossible to sit through. More insulting, more about the character rather than the reactions and featuring a gay or dick joke everything couple of minutes means large portions of the film are simply not funny, and worse still, cringe worthy. I actually skipped to the end of more than one chapter, something I haven’t done in a long, long time. There is no denying Cohen is a very funny man, he may have missed the mark with Bruno but because of the man’s unquestionable talent, there are a number of amusing moments to be found amongst the crap. And guess what, most involve the reactions of the unsuspecting public, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that Bruno or Borat are just the catalysts for the real laughs which come from stupid people who should know better. A step too far, disgusting and just plain unfunny, Bruno is no Borat 2 and should be avoided.
Optics:
Shot using handheld cameras, I was anticipating a gritty and grainy documentary style but what Universal has actually supplied is a pretty detailed and sharp looking image. Colours are pleasing, skin tones in particular look natural and although a sense of depth is never really achieved and blacks are never particularly convincing, with all things considered, Bruno on Blu-ray is a nice surprise.
Sonics:
Being a dialogue driven film with zero action sequences and no special effects on show, I was quite surprised at the quality of this track. The lossless DTS-HD soundtrack is punchy, clear and crisp and throws in a few low frequency grunts when it has to. Music tracks sound full bodied and smooth while dialogue is always audible no matter what is going on, on screen. A centre speaker orientated track it may be, but Bruno sounds great none-the-less.
Extras:
The extras consist mainly of a pretty lively enhanced, picture in picture commentary. I’m not sure anyone would want to sit through any more of Bruno than they have to so I feel it’s my duty to warn you that Cohen and director Larry Charles "pause" the film at various points to talk in more depth about various scenes. What this means is the running time of the film whilst watching with the enhanced commentary activated is nearly half an hour longer. No thanks.
Well?
A comedy designed to shock and amaze the viewer in a similar way to Borat, Bruno goes too far whilst managing to being almost completely devoid of intelligents and wit. One of the worst films of the year.
Tom Day
I guess a lot was expected of Bruno after the runaway success of Borat. Sacha Baron Cohen’s brand of humor really hit the mark back in 2006. The key to the film’s success was the unexpected more than anything; not many people were aware of Borat at all. Making people look stupid is the simplest way of describing the style, insulting people would be another. The many ignorant American’s featured in the film played into Cohen’s hands making for a film that was half car crash TV and half genius comedy. With Bruno, for the most part, I’ve seen funnier car crashes.
The story of a sacked Austrian TV fashion show presenter in search of fame is one that could have worked alongside the Borat style. The problem is not the subject matter necessarily, but rather much of Bruno is hard to watch, in fact, some sequences are almost impossible to sit through. More insulting, more about the character rather than the reactions and featuring a gay or dick joke everything couple of minutes means large portions of the film are simply not funny, and worse still, cringe worthy. I actually skipped to the end of more than one chapter, something I haven’t done in a long, long time. There is no denying Cohen is a very funny man, he may have missed the mark with Bruno but because of the man’s unquestionable talent, there are a number of amusing moments to be found amongst the crap. And guess what, most involve the reactions of the unsuspecting public, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that Bruno or Borat are just the catalysts for the real laughs which come from stupid people who should know better. A step too far, disgusting and just plain unfunny, Bruno is no Borat 2 and should be avoided.
Optics:
Shot using handheld cameras, I was anticipating a gritty and grainy documentary style but what Universal has actually supplied is a pretty detailed and sharp looking image. Colours are pleasing, skin tones in particular look natural and although a sense of depth is never really achieved and blacks are never particularly convincing, with all things considered, Bruno on Blu-ray is a nice surprise.
Sonics:
Being a dialogue driven film with zero action sequences and no special effects on show, I was quite surprised at the quality of this track. The lossless DTS-HD soundtrack is punchy, clear and crisp and throws in a few low frequency grunts when it has to. Music tracks sound full bodied and smooth while dialogue is always audible no matter what is going on, on screen. A centre speaker orientated track it may be, but Bruno sounds great none-the-less.
Extras:
The extras consist mainly of a pretty lively enhanced, picture in picture commentary. I’m not sure anyone would want to sit through any more of Bruno than they have to so I feel it’s my duty to warn you that Cohen and director Larry Charles "pause" the film at various points to talk in more depth about various scenes. What this means is the running time of the film whilst watching with the enhanced commentary activated is nearly half an hour longer. No thanks.
Well?
A comedy designed to shock and amaze the viewer in a similar way to Borat, Bruno goes too far whilst managing to being almost completely devoid of intelligents and wit. One of the worst films of the year.
Tom Day
Director:
Larry Charles
Starring:
Sacha Baron Cohen
Best line:
"You tried to make my face pregnant."
Tagline:
"Borat was so 2006."
Description:
Universal
UK
Region free
Rated 18
1Hr 21 Mins
1.85:1
MPEG-4/AVC
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
(English)
DTS 5.1
(Spanish, French)
Subtitles: Eng, Spa, Fra
Enhanced audio commentary
BD-Live
Ratings: (Out of 10)
Film 3.0
Optics 7.0
Sonics 8.0
Extras 4.0
Overall 4.0
