comment #1

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

I bet Cohen's quaking in his boots.

comment #2

Unison says ...

Enough of this controversy-as-free-publicity. No one has seen this movie yet. How can there be controversy? Feature writers are so starved for genuine content that they are mining for excitement where there is none.

comment #3

George Prager says ...

I can't wait to rent this DVD and fast-forward through most of it because it's so boring and sucks so bad (just like BORAT). The only thing more boring will be Brooks Barnes essay about it.

comment #4

MikeSchaeferSF says ...

If Cohen is genuinely exposing/satirizing homophobia then more power to him. But it's a fine line, and the whole "anything gay is funny-by-definition" thing, which we've seen in countless comedies (good ones and bad ones -- the Ken Jeong character in Hangover being a current example), is a bit tired and I wonder if SBC is behind the curve here.

comment #5

actionman says ...

Borat sucked? Really? Geez...

comment #6

raygo says ...

And Matt Drudge doesn't really write, does he? He paraphrases and links. Rarely is there any original content.

comment #7

ErrantElan says ...

"the whole "anything gay is funny-by-definition" thing"

To be fair (and more accurate), the word gay should be replaced by "campy" or "flamboyant". I have many gay male friends that wouldn't make anyone laugh, because they don't talk or act any differently than I do. But when you run into a really campy queen - yes, that voice is funny. Sorry.

To call that homophobic is, to my mind, the actually homophobic statement because it equates being gay with being campy. Flamboyant "fabulous!" queens are only a small subgroup of homosexual men, and they do all of that as an affectation (which, I can tell you, pisses off my gay friends to no end).

It's the same thing as Martin Lawrence's "Shanaynay", or Eddie Murphy's "Norbit" character....or even Larry the Cable Guy. Cultural exaggerations that make people laugh. I think it's a problem that too many gay men do adopt that silly, queeny affectation. No, it's no excuse to hate them, hurt them, or deny them marriage (good god). But it sure sounds funny.

comment #8

BurmaShave says ...

I'll repost an email on this from one of my best friends:

My instinct is to be one of the offended gays, here. But I'm reforming my mindset when it comes to this topic. I now believe that if gay people want to behave ridiculously, then Hollywood has a right to ridicule them. No?

I think it is more in comedians' natures to be funny than it is in gays' natures to behave as insanely as Bruno behaves...which means I think that Sasha Baron Cohen is being true to himself by making such an alarming film, while the thousands/millions of gays he's satirizing aren't. Such insane/outrageous/subversive/ironic behavior by gays is not even confined to a small group of gays. The character of Bruno is a sweeping satire of global gay culture. I'm relieved that some gays understand how devastating Cohen's comedic attack on them is. The play's the thing wherein we catch the conscience of the king. And I guess any gay person who can't see that Bruno is a satirical character somehow lacks the "conscience" which that Hamlet quote refers to -- an idea that makes me sad.

Gay men are the high priests of culture. They are also the canary-in-a-coal-mine of culture. A satirical expose of gay men and their culture is in the interests of humanity, no just gay men. Straight people are deeply effected by the art and style and culture which gay people sell. So let's all take a good look at the character of Bruno, and not be afraid of what satire can tell us.

comment #9

Kristopher Tapley says ...

I think it's a genuine concern, actually. Along the same track as the New Yorker Obama cover.

comment #10

George Prager says ...

You really get emails like that, Burm?

Most emails I get are like this:

This was fucking hilarious!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxxxxxx

comment #11

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

I thought you were going to Rick-Roll me, Prager.

comment #12

George Prager says ...

Rick Roll is so 2008. This is much better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2b1D5w82yU

comment #13

MovieBob says ...

Thing is, the much more specifically-political dimension of "gay" versus "vaugely foriegn" makes it a little harder to ignore that doing these characters in this style mainly allows Cohen - for all his obvious talents - to have his cake and eat it, too.

He gets to do very biting, brutal caricatures of third-worlders (Borat) or gays (Bruno) which are funny in and of themselves... but then he ALSO has the real-reaction documentary aspect that lets him hold said caricatures as reaction-generators for the purpose of revealing the absurdity of those he interacts with.

Look at the "Bruno" bit with the adopted kid on the talk show. Mainly, it's a fairly mean-spirited of the unselfconscious narcissism that's attributed to stereotypical "fashion world" gays; but it's then made "okay" by the second level of using his presence to hold up the hyperbolic reactions of a typical talk-show audience as comedy fodder itself.

comment #14

MovieBob says ...

Blegh. That should say "fairly mean-sprited CARICATURE OF..." in paragraph 3.

comment #15

George Prager says ...

Relax, MovieBob. You can't take the same shit twice.

comment #16

MikeSchaeferSF says ...

Burma: your friend is a wise wise man.

comment #17

corey3rd says ...

a pal saw the 20 minute sxsw preview. he like it, but couldn't imagine another hour,

comment #18

judy says ...

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comment #19

Ulysses says ...

I wish that I was a diversely ethnic single.

comment #20

Baron Munchausen-by-Proxy says ...

I'm thinking that "diversely ethnic single" may just be the perfect premise for SBC's next ker-razy karachter! His cupboard's bare.