Review: "Bruno" Isn't Homophobic (But It's No "Borat" Either)

Bruno isn't homophobic. But it's also not nearly as funny as Borat either.

Or maybe it is. As in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Sacha Baron Cohen's 2006 movie, the comedian creates outrageous situations — and then films how real people react.

And many of the set-ups are admittedly brilliant. Asking stage-mothers if they'd allow their actor-babies to operate heavy machinery, or lose ten pounds through liposuction, or be photographed dressed up like Nazis, pushing Jewish babies into ovens? And having these over-eager stage mothers readily agree to all this without question?

Now that is some amazing parody of America's celebrity-obsessed culture!

Likewise, plenty of the jokes are laugh-out-loud hilarious. I defy anyone not to laugh when Bruno has a psychic conjure up the spirit of a deceased member of the band Milli Vanilli — so Bruno can proceed to have "spirit" sex with him.

But even if this movie has its inspired moments, it doesn't have nearly the impact of Borat.

Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat

Why? Well, we've seen the joke before: the whole movie is basically Borat with a different funny voice. And no matter how well-told a joke is, it's not nearly as funny the second time you hear it.

In short, Sacha Baron Cohen is the Susan Boyle of comedy. He's just as talented as the first time you saw him, but he's only going to knock your socks off once, at least as long as he's doing almost exactly the same shtick.

In the case of Borat, it was so outrageous, so utterly different from anything we'd seen before, that most of us fell off our chairs laughing, not even noticing its flaws.

This time around, we see the flaws. The movie is more a satire about America's inane obsession with celebrity than it is about exposing homophobia, but both themes have their moments.