New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

This will go into a few spoilers, so if you haven’t seen Brüno, then please be advised that the film does contain a talking penis.

Brüno would be a risky venture for any studio. Universal won a bidding war, picking up the film for $42 million, and this was before Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat had even opened. This allowed them to distribute the film in the US and certain territories across Europe and covered the $20 - 25 million budget. After seeing the success 20th Century Fox had with Borat ($128 million at the US box office, with $261 million worldwide), it appeared that Universal had made a sound investment.

Marketing went into overdrive with a set of risqué posters and publicity stills. There was also plenty of "exposure," with a stunt at the MTV Movie Awards resulting in Brüno landing in Eminem’s lap. A few weeks later he appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, giving him a lap dance. The day before the film opened he was on the Today show, describing how the conflict in the Middle East was down to fashion, because he too would blow himself up if all he had in his wardrobe were, “a black burka and some sandals.” Plus there were the all too frequent news stories of someone suing Cohen.

The film opened on July 10, 2009 and made it to #1 that weekend with a take of $30.6 million. Although expected to open higher, with some analysts even predicting an opening in the region of $40 million, especially after taking $14.4 on its opening day, this was still a good result. However, the film suffered a large decline on its second weekend, and was down to #4. To be fair, it was up against the opening weekend of Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince. But whereas other films in the top ten managed to hold with drops at under 50%, Brüno plummeted a monstrous 72% with a take of $8.3 million. This only proved just how front-loaded it was.

The thin excuse for a story involved fashion reporter Brüno being ousted from his own TV show in Germany. So, he decides to move to Los Angeles in an effort to reinvent himself, interviewing celebrities for his new show. The film can’t help but be compared to Borat, since this was pretty much the same formula under a different disguise. However, one of the main issues was the character, for Cohen’s TV incarnation of Brüno had undergone a slight transformation for the big screen. This was less about fashion and more about trying to be a satire on celebrity and homophobia.

In Borat, to a certain degree, people were often willing to put up with him due to his foreign naivety. On the other hand, Brüno is attacked, thrown out of places, and even his cameraman is set upon. This is an unlikeable character that wants to be liked. That he’s openly gay was just one of the problems. It doesn’t help when he’s an arrogantly, flamboyant, narcissistic, celebrity-stalker, who’s so sexually obsessed that he’ll even try to sleep with straight guys!

Continued:       1       2