ROTTEN TOMATOES: Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno Goes to Kansas Comments

Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno Goes to Kansas

by Jeff Giles | March 31, 2008

Summary

Just a few short years after baffling and enraging Middle Americans with Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen is back...as Bruno. Back to Article

(1-37 of 37 posts) | Reply

Gimy writes:
on Mar 31 2008 06:30 AM

publicity...thats all a film like this could ever want. i've only heard snippets about the character but seriously...Kansas? isn't that basically what Borat was about? making fun of white trash bigots? hopefully its an impossible to do impression(his character) because i got sick of people trying to do Borat...it was slightly more annoying than Napoleon Dynamite

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randal1013 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 06:39 AM

yeah this sounds like a redo of borat.

is sacha out of ideas already?

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donwillymo writes:
on Mar 31 2008 06:55 AM

Probably won't do the same numbers that Borat did but will be close and with the same elements and humor of the first it will definitely be no. 1 at box office. Already has a cult following and an edgy controversial gay subject. Even if it seems like a redo of Borat, is that really a bad thing? It's like Mike Meyers with the austin powers persona that just always works.

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dahluzz writes:
on Mar 31 2008 07:07 AM

the full title is absolutely ridiculous. but of course i will go to this and i will laugh.

when americans stop giving satirists this many reasons to make fun of their shortsightedness and fear of the unknown, they'll start catching some breaks. but as long as they remain flag-waving, ignorant bigots, they're too ripe for parody to pass up. i mean, i'm american, so i ecounter these sorts of people all the time.

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DanielLee8793 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 07:16 AM

What are you guys talking about?

This Character, Borat, and Ali G are all on one show. No character came first.

This is his schtick to do comedy like this. Its hillarious if you ever watched the show on HBO.

I will be waiting to see this it looks great.

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frogleg writes:
on Mar 31 2008 07:42 AM

Exactly. It's not a redo of Borat. It's a character that ran simultaneously with Borat. I even thought Bruno was funnier, most of the time.

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Siebener writes:
on Mar 31 2008 07:45 AM

i always likes bruno a lot better than borat, and think, that it's a completely different kind of humor.

whilst borat is all about embarassing people, bruno is more about provoking statements. my favourite scene was, when he asked some fashion-designer (if i remember correctly): "last years in-religion was buddhism, what would you say is this months in-religion?"

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insanemansam5 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 07:50 AM

Uhh...doesn't reporting on where the cast is undermine the purpose of the film. Isn't the point that Cohen was supposed to be trying convince people he's someone else? That's probably kind of hard to when what you're being reported on.

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insanemansam5 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 07:52 AM

to do when you're being reported on*

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arendr writes:
on Mar 31 2008 08:31 AM

If anyone wants to see the scene in question:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=X705bSPTNPQ

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Lance from FilmDrunk writes:
on Mar 31 2008 09:01 AM

I found this three days before that BadandUgly article you listed as a source - they probably got it from me and didn't cite me.

Check it:
http://filmdrunk.com/post.phtml?pk=1405

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tomwaitsjr writes:
on Mar 31 2008 10:17 AM

This won't do anywhere near as well as Borat. Some people will feel threatened by Bruno, wheras Borat was a clown to laugh at, and laugh at those around him. The majority of Americen men can't handle a whole "gay" film. I remember some people being sickened by the end make-out scene of Talladega Nights.

I predict it'll do fairly well the first week, and then plummet.

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donwillymo writes:
on Mar 31 2008 10:33 AM

Yeah but its one thing when you know Cohen is not really gay as opposed to if he really was. Men are going into that theater knowing that he's not really gay but acting it like a 'clown'. Being that Cohen hasn't really dropped anything like this since Borat, I think it should do very well. It's not like a gay porn film or anything but like a funny gay film like the Jackass crew would do.

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duckmanx88 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 10:41 AM

running out of ideas? i don't think so. we've only been exposed to him commercially(in theatres) with borat. how would you say he's running out of ideas? anyway i love how he exposes the hicks in kansas.

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arendr writes:
on Mar 31 2008 11:18 AM

In reply to this comment (#1662532)
And how many men sat through the naked wrestling scene in Borat?

Like 8 billion.

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tomwaitsjr writes:
on Mar 31 2008 11:59 AM

If the wrestling scene was 1 1/2 hours long, how many men would sit through it? Probably about 10%.

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Elixor writes:
on Mar 31 2008 12:00 PM

I agree that Bruno was a funnier character on the HBO show. I was hoping and am glad that he's doing a movie on Bruno next. I wish that he would've just done Bruno first so that he could've pulled this off better on more Americans and the fashion industry here. This has potential to be just hilarious.

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Darkness My Old Friend writes:
on Mar 31 2008 12:29 PM

The problem is the best parts of Bruno were when he was tearing it up with the fashionistas and celebs in places like LA and Miami. He probably can't do that anymore because of the exposure. That's what he really was amazing at satirizing.

And I'm afraid to say, but in response to the first poster, yes, Bruno is very easy to imitate. Get ready for the rain of bad impersonations.

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JUDGE DREDD writes:
on Mar 31 2008 01:04 PM

Funniest Bruno skit i saw was when he interviewed a buch of American Jock wannabe wrestlers. He got them to Woop and cheer as loud as they could, then got them to expose n flex muscles, then he wrestled them. Just as he got em all riled up into a wooping frenzy. He pulled out the mike and announced it was for german gay tv. I thought there was gonna be bloodshed.

Based on that, this film could be hillarious. Borat is my favorite character he did, but Ali G, funny at first but he took it too far like little britain did.

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jmo2ski writes:
on Mar 31 2008 01:10 PM

Would any males go and see this?

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arendr writes:
on Mar 31 2008 01:45 PM

I still don't understand why people think men wouldn't see this movie. So he's a gay character. Who cares?

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tomwaitsjr writes:
on Mar 31 2008 01:50 PM

Hey!

I know someone that saw a gay movie. The next day there were dressed in a pink bathrobe and jumping up and down saying "I turned gay!"

[odd reference to the classic film "Bringing Up Baby" with Cary Grant as the gay guy in pink, and Katherine Hepburn in the role of me.]

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nyr148699 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 02:04 PM

In reply to this comment (#1662894)
In response to jmo2ski:

As a male I would never see this movie; I wouldn't want to turn gay! Gayness is contagious, as we all know and a movie that's funny about gay people is morally repugnant. Homosexuality is VERY wrong (at least that's what my bible says in an obscure way (Leviticus 18:22) shortly before noting that it's okay to own slaves, provided they are from a neighboring state (Lev. 25:44))

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randal1013 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 02:16 PM

In reply to this comment (#1662557)
because his second movie sounds like borat again, only gayer. not exactly a fresh idea.

unless this bruno thing goes in a totally different direction that hasn't been mentioned, it seems like sacha just might be following the will ferral formula of recycling the same basic pretense.

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arendr writes:
on Mar 31 2008 02:26 PM

In reply to this comment (#1663015)
You don't understand. Bruno as a character is nearly as old as the Borat character. This is more of a spin-off, really.

In hindsight, Borat the movie was probably a bit over-rated, especially compared to the brilliance of the show. I can see Bruno being about the same.

But Cohen is one of the most talented comedic actors I've ever seen. It would be a shame if his career ended up as Will Ferrell's is going.

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pinkincide writes:
on Mar 31 2008 02:53 PM

Well, one thing's for sure: if you don't want to see guys prancing around with their butt cheeks in your face for 90 minutes, you're definitely a homophobic bigot. Nothing else explains it. Did I mention Americans are Doo-Doo heads?

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MaxFisher14 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 03:16 PM

I hve lowered my expectations, becuase I think this will be nothing shy of gay porn.

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insanemansam5 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 03:49 PM

I've never seen a Bruno sketch so I can't speak as to whether or not I'm interested in this movie, if the youtube clip was any indication as to what this movie is going to be like though colored me uninterested. It's not that I don't want to see a movie about a gay character in fact I think the concept sounds hillarious.

I don't want to see any movie though about people prancing around in spandex gay or straight trying to disgust others. It's just not that funny that is unless you're an extreme homophobe or a twelve year old who finds homosexual stereotypes to be funny.

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arendr writes:
on Mar 31 2008 03:53 PM

In reply to this comment (#1663212)
Bruno is actually a clever character similar to Borat. He has the same ability to get people to reveal their prejudices. And we're not just talking about Middle America. He also has gotten the people in the fashion industry to say some horrifying things.

I suggest you watch some of the clips on youtube.

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insanemansam5 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 03:55 PM

In reply to this comment (#1663240)
consider it done

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drstevew writes:
on Mar 31 2008 04:09 PM

As has been mentioned before, Bruno, Borat, and Ali G were all character Sacha Baron Cohen played on Da Ali G Show before the creation of the Borat movie. All the characters use what is essentially the same "gag," playing a specific cultural stereotype (Ali G: The wannabe white gangstah, Borat: A confused foreigner from a third world country, and Bruno: An effeminate European fashion journalist) and then using that stereotype (when the show is particularly good) to frustrate, undermine, and show the hypocrisy of the institutions that these people might choose to encounter.

Saying that Bruno is derivative of Borat, or that Sacha Baron Cohen is running out of ideas is a silly idea, since they both generate from the same impulse and same basic formula in the first place. Rather, it appears that Cohen has been given the opportunity to expand on the comedy he used in the show in a larger format that will get more exposure. Saying that he's copying himself is like saying that Wayne's World or Wayne's World 2 was just copying the original Saturday Night Live skit. In some ways it's true, but I'll take Wayne's World over the Saturday Night Live skits any day.

Oh, and the kind of men who are scared of seeing this movie because Bruno is gay are exactly the kind of small-minded people that Cohen targets for his segments. Chances they'll see themselves being ridiculed by proxy onscreen.

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lateralus@KU writes:
on Mar 31 2008 04:13 PM

In reply to this comment (#1662557)
over generalize and talk all the crap you want on Kansas...just remember our basketball team is better than your basketball team :)

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insanemansam5 writes:
on Mar 31 2008 07:03 PM

I watched a couple clips; it was pretty funny I'm not sure there's a whole movie their Borat was probably a much more interesting character to make a movie because he seems to be a lot more over the top and crazy. Bruno in comparison is somewhat down to earth almost boring.

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arendr writes:
on Mar 31 2008 07:09 PM

In reply to this comment (#1663457)
I agree. Borat is the stronger character.

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Four Fingered Feet writes:
on Mar 31 2008 08:04 PM

"Being Gay is hot new thing! I'm here in the gayest place of America... ALABAMA!"

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mrdanny writes:
on Mar 31 2008 08:32 PM

I have a feeling this movie may not do well in certain markets... I work with a bunch of 20 somethings and I know for a fact that most of them will not see it... for example...I was watching "will and grace" one day in the break room and was immediately bombarded with jokes from said co workers that I must be gay for watching it. Jokes like " your a homo" or "how can you watch that? there F*GS"... Its a sad situation that gay people and there lifestyles are considered a big joke and are constantly scrutinized for the way they live...

with that said I will hopefully see this movie but will probably have to go alone......

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tomwaitsjr writes:
on Apr 01 2008 10:43 AM

Bah, seeing a movie alone isn't all that bad. . .

[especially when it's porn]

(Reply to this)

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