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Long in advance of its release, Bruno, the new comedy from Sacha Baron Cohen--who scandalized audiences with "Borat"--generated controversy.
The film centers around a flamboyantly gay Austrian "fashionista" who, like Borat before him, comes to America to befuddle and confound the locals.
The previous movie so enraged some Americans caught on film--who actually believed they were dealing with a tourist from Eastern Europe--that lawsuits were filed.
The new movie has yet to engender any suits, though Cohen was reportedly arrested in several countries while making the film.
A June 18 BBC reported that Cohen showed up for the movie’s London premiere in a saucy rendition of the uniform worn by the Queen’s Guards, and greeted the crowd with the proclamation, "This is the most important movie starring a gay Austrian since Terminator 2."
The article ran down various plot points from movie’s episodic structure, in which Bruno, looking to promote his name and rehabilitate himself after a catastrophic wardrobe malfunction, throws himself headlong it controversial situations, such as "converting" to heterosexuality in order to generate headlines.
Mention was also made of a "cage fight" in Arkansas involving a love scene between men and an anti-gay, chair-hurling crowd.
The article summed up the film by saying, "Bruno pushes the boundaries further than Borat ever did."
Added the BBC, "Sometimes you question whether he has finally crossed the line into offensive bad taste--and, latterly, whether you were right to laugh at it--but the audience all seemed to guffaw and groan in the right places.
"They even gasped in horror when they were supposed to."
The review cautioned that, "if you are easily shocked this certainly won’t be for you, but some will find it outrageously hilarious."
A June 18 Associated Press article also reported on Cohen’s antics at the premiere, quoting him as coming out with some blistering japes at the royal family’s expense.
"I just wanted to do something that was flattering for the royal family," Cohen--or rather, Bruno, as Cohen was in character for the premiere appearance--said. "Something that the queen--I’m not talking about Elton John--would really appreciate."
Added the comedian, "You know the British royal family and the Austrians have got a lot in common. We’re still the only people who are proud to wear a swastika."
Like something right out of one of Cohen’s movies, some GLBT leaders expressed concern that the new movie might derail the equality movement, costing gays some of the momentum they have picked up with recent victories, reported the AP in a June 17 item.
The article quoted the senior director of media programs for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Rashad Robinson, as saying, "We do feel the intentions of the filmmakers are in the right place--satire of this form can unmask homophobia--but at the same time it can heighten people’s discomfort with our community."
The studio behind the movie, Universal, expressed confidence that the film’s target audience would get the jokes in the spirit in which they were intended.
"’Bruno’ uses provocative comedy to powerfully shed light on the absurdity of many kinds of intolerance and ignorance, including homophobia," a statement from Universal said.
Bruno himself took on gay stereotypes: to the crowd at the London premiere, he announced that the film would hopefully counter "all the negative stereotyping of the gay community done by ’Milk,’" the Oscar-winning Gus Van Sant biopic of slain gay politician Harvey Milk.
