CINEMA REWIND

Bruno takes the best and worst elements of Borat and creates what is a mostly hilarious, albeit slightly disappointing, follow-up to the 2006 hit. Sacha Baron Cohen stars as Bruno, a gay Austrian television reporter who is blacklisted after a disastrous participation in a Milan fashion show. Bruno decides to go to America to start a new show and become a celebrity. What follows is Bruno's hilariously desperate decent into the world of fame.

After Bruno's American show fails, he decides he should make a sex tape to become famous. Then tries adopting an African baby to get attention. And later attempts to transform into a straight man in order to become a Hollywood actor. There was a lot of potential to provide amazing commentary on celebrity and fame. And what really made Borat great was its inclusion of social commentary in its humorous segments. There are moments when Cohen succeeds in Bruno, including showing how celebrity babies are used as accessories, and if charity is as heartfelt as it should be. Too often, however, scenes are outrageous for no other purpose than to push the limits of an R rating or get some laughs out of audience members.

When Cohen tries to shine a light on our culture's homophobia it mostly doesn't work. Who would not react harshly to seeing a close-up of an erect penis during a television show screening, or having a naked man try entering your tent at 4 am? A scene at the end worked well in this department, but overall there was a lack of sympathy for the Bruno character that Borat seemed to have consistently throughout. Despite all of this, Bruno still had me frequently laughing out loud. And for that I walked out with a slightly positive reaction.