I saw Bruno last night, the midnight show, and I enjoyed it. It was predictable, as it followed the Borat template story-wise, and many of the gags were revealed in trailer, but it was hilarious nonetheless.
Liked: The montage of Bruno and his pygmy boyfriend going at it; getting Israelis and Palestinians to unite over the goodness of hommus; Bruno's mimed sexual scene at the fortune teller; and finding out just how much parents are willing to put their babies through for fame and fortune.
Disliked: The treatment of Ron Paul (of all the asshole politicians, why Paul, who is one of the good guys?); the inability of Cohen to realize the full comic potential of his interviews (see, especially, the terrorist, and those two stupid twins); and the whole "becoming straight" bit, which didn't yield too much good material.
But the most important thing I have to say about Bruno is this: what is with the close-up swinging dick? First, how can they get away with that and still manage an R-rating? I mean it was like 20 seconds of a dick (Cohen's? Probably.) swinging around. Could an R-rated movie get away with 20 seconds of a close up of a woman spread-eagle? (Of course not). And if not, why not?*
Second, later in the movie they pixelated Bruno's genitals as he's walking around in his campsite naked. And that was in night vision, barely visible, from long range. Is this the edit that got Bruno out of its original NC-17 rating? Was it a time thing? ("20 seconds of a close-up swinging dick is OK, but 25 seconds of dick is too much.") Is the MPAA retarded?
Third, what is with all the full frontal lately? In a little over a year, I've now become visually acquainted with the junk of Cohen, Jason Segel, and Ken Jeong. Is this going to become a fixture of today's raunchy comedies, the way gratuitous boobs were in the 80s?
*All I'm saying is: Let's not have a double standard. Genitals are genitals. Where are we, Saudi Arabia? Let's see some talking clitorises (clitori?). In 3-D!
1 comments:
I agree completely. If a labia gets shown, oh dear God, the world will end as we know it. But we can have penises gone wild in anything else. Guys want to see vagina, and never get it, and girls don't even want to see penis. It's time to reach the final frontier.
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