BRÜNO Tops Box Office
Sacha Baron Cohen’s Brüno jumped to the top spot at the North American box office with a solid $30.4 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Larry Charles-directed comedy debuted at 2,756 locations Friday, beating the opening weekend gross of Borat by $4 million. (It should be noted that Borat opened in considerably fewer theaters.) In Brüno, Cohen plays a flamboyant gay Austrian fashionista heading to Los Angeles to become the biggest Austrian celebrity since Hitler.
This week’s second wide release, the comedy I Love You, Beth Cooper, debuted at No. 7 with only $5 million. Directed by Chris Columbus, I Love You, Beth Cooper stars Hayden Panettiere as [...]
by Franck Tabouring | July 13, 2009
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Tags: Box Office, Brüno, I Love You Beth Cooper, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Public Enemies, Ryan Reynolds, Sacha Baron Cohen, Sandra Bullock, The Proposal, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Sacha Baron Cohen in BRÜNO: Photos
Directed by Larry Charles, and written by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Mazer, and Jeff Schaffer, Brüno stars Cohen (above, with Gayby) as a gay Austrian fashionista who comes to the US to become "the most famous Austrian since Hitler" while at the same time trying to pass for a hetero dude like "Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Kevin Spacey."
"Beneath the idiocy," writes Steve Rose in The Guardian, "Baron Cohen is also a politically astute agent who’s devised an ingenious way to confront and expose serious social issues – and indulge his own exhibitionism.
"Brüno is funniest, though, when it’s at its most politically incorrect, especially when it comes to homosexuality. There’s an [...]
by Andre Soares | July 4, 2009
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Tags: Brüno, Gay Interest, Larry Charles, Photos, Sacha Baron Cohen
BRÜNO in THE GUARDIAN
Steve Rose reviews Brüno in The Guardian:
"Brüno is funniest, though, when it’s at its most politically incorrect, especially when it comes to homosexuality. There’s an eye-popping montage of extreme gay sex practices (imaginary, one hopes), a surfeit of waving penises, dildos, fetish gear, anal bleaching, and an excruciating mime in which Brüno fellates the ghost of a deceased member of Milli Vanilli in front of a psychic.
"Much of it is unavoidably hilarious, but is he lampooning homophobia or perpetuating it?
"Either way, he gets away with a great deal simply by being a brilliant physical comedian. That should stand him in good stead."
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The Guardian editorial:
"Everyone apart from fans of Germanic diacritical marks will find something to deplore in Sacha Baron Cohen’s [...]
by Anna Robinson | June 18, 2009
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Tags: Brüno, Sacha Baron Cohen, Sex, The Guardian
BRÜNO and the Gays Controversy
Brook Barnes in the New York Times:
"So it goes for Brüno, a movie that, in mercilessly exploiting the discomfort created when straight men are ambushed by aggressive gayness, happens to (surprise!) expose homophobia. Gay groups are reacting with deeply mixed emotions, heightened by the recent triumphs (Iowa) and losses (California) in efforts to legalize gay marriage. Is the film then vulgar, inappropriate and harmful? Or bold, timely and necessary? All of the above?
"Ultimately the tension surrounding Brüno boils down to the worry that certain viewers won’t understand that the joke is on them and will leave the multiplex with their homophobia validated."
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Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood:
"There’s now a YouTube video … making the rounds which features notables like Peter Paige [...]
by Anna Robinson | June 18, 2009
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Tags: Brook Barnes, Brüno, Gay Interest, Larry Charles, Nikki Finke, Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Baron Cohen in BRÜNO Trailer
Written by Sacha Baron Cohen and directed by Dan Mazer, Brüno stars Cohen as a flamboyant Austrian fashionista who, in his desire to become "the biggest Austrian celebrity since Hitler," decides to launch himself in the United States, adopting an African baby (à la Madonna) in the process while trying to pass for straight.
As a result of several sex scenes, Brüno has been slapped with a NC-17 rating in the US. I don’t believe anyone was surprised. Its distributor, Universal, will now have to trim the sex bits in order to get the mockumentary an R rating. Apparently, one sequence involves anal intercourse, the sort of stuff that drives the MPAA censors wild. That and the other soon-to-be-cut [...]
by Irene Young | April 3, 2009
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Tags: Brüno, Censorship, Comedies, Gay Interest, Gay Movies, Mockumentaries, Sacha Baron Cohen, Satire, Sex, Trailers
