Brüno (2009)

Flamboyant and gay Austrian Brüno looks for new fame in America.

Director:

Larry Charles

Writers:

Sacha Baron Cohen (screenplay), Anthony Hines (screenplay)

Stars:

Sacha Baron Cohen, Gustaf Hammarsten, Clifford Bañagale

2 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sacha Baron Cohen	...	Brüno
Gustaf Hammarsten	...	Lutz
Clifford Bañagale	...	Diesel
Chibundu Orukwowu	...	O.J.
Chigozie Orukwowu	...	O.J.
Josh Meyers	...	Kookus
Toby Holguin	...	Mexican Gardener #1 (as Toby Hoguin)
Robert Huerta	...	Mexican Gardener #2
Gilbert Rosales	...	Mexican Gardener #3
Thomas Rosales Jr.	...	Mexican Gardener #4
Marco Xavier	...	Mexican Gardener #5
Bono	...	Self - 'Dove of Peace'
Chris Martin	...	Self - 'Dove of Peace'
Elton John	...	Self - 'Dove of Peace'
Slash	...	Self - 'Dove of Peace'

Storyline

Brüno is a gay Austrian fashion guru. He has his own fashion based television show, Funkyzeit, the most popular German-language show of its kind outside of Germany. After he disgraces himself in front of his Funkyzeit fan base, he is ruined in German speaking Europe. He decides that in his quest for worldwide fame, he will move to Los Angeles and reinvent himself. Accompanying him to the US is Lutz, his former assistant's assistant. Lutz is the only person left in his circle that still believes in Brüno's greatness. Brüno goes through one reinvention of himself after another, ultimately straying to areas far removed from his own self. Perhaps when Brüno finds an activity that he truly does love, he will also find that über-fame he so desperately desires.

---

Plot Keywords:

social satire | mockumentary | fame | austrian | vicarious embarrassment | 

---

Taglines:

Borat was so 2006

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Certificate:

M/16

Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English German

Release Date:

9 July 2009 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

Brüno

Filming Locations:

1880 SW Gage Blvd, Topeka, Kansas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$42,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$30,619,130, 12 July 2009

Gross USA:

$60,054,530

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$138,805,831

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Media Rights Capital (MRC), Everyman Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In October 2006, entertainment blog website Defamer.com jokingly reported the title would be "Brüno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt." Numerous websites around the world, including IMDb (the Internet Movie Database), reported this to be the actual working title.

---

Goofs

When Brüno takes OJ out of the box at the airport, the subtitle says "That is 13 pounds of black gold." He says "Das ist vierzehn Pfund schwarzes Gold." "Vierzehn" means 14, not 13 ("dreizehn").

---

Quotes

National Guard Officer: What type of belt is that, candidate? What is that?
Brüno: D and G.
National Guard Officer: What is D and G?
Brüno: Dolce and Gabbana, hello.

---

Crazy Credits

The U in the Universal logo is spelled with an umlaut (Ü) like the movie's title.

---

Alternate Versions

In Australia, the uncut version was rated R18+ by the OFLC and was subsequently edited to receive a lower MA15+ rating. According to Universal a few seconds of footage were trimmed in order to receive the new rating. The uncut version was released on DVD/Blu-ray.

---

Connections

Featured in Great Movie Mistakes (2010)

---

Soundtracks

In the Navy
Written by Jacques Morali, Henri Belolo and Victor Willis (as Victor Edward Willis)
Performed by The Village People (as Village People)
Courtesy of The Island Def Jam Music Group
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises and Scorpio Music, S.A.

User Reviews

For those asking how the shock effect of 'Borat' could be topped...

Brüno is a gay Austrian fashion reporter impersonated by the man that notoriously starred as Borat in... Borat.

(For those that have seen Borat: you probably know what to expect. If you did not like Borat for the painfully explicit content, stay away from Brüno. If you almost died of laughter during a certain hotel scene in Borat, go see Brüno immediately and prepare for almost certain death.)

Obviously, having made Borat, the producers of Brüno had a hard time to repeat the surprise effect. It should therefore not come as a surprise that the movie contains substantially less confrontations between the main character and innocent (famous) bystanders. Still, confrontations with a number of people, among which a few famous ones, seem sincere, and work on multiple levels, as in Borat. Others are clearly scripted, but not less funny for that (watch the ending credits for an example).

In general, compared to Borat, Brüno focuses more on a) effectively shocking it's viewers with the (sexual) misconduct of the main character and b) stunts of this main character in front of a large audience. Essentially, this time the shock effect is moved from the 'random' people that appear in the movie, to the audience looking at the movie.

For many, it will definitely be more shocking than Borat, given the shamelessly explicit content that exploits every possibility for jokes concerning men making out. For others, the never-ending provoked racism of Borat will have a longer-lasting impact.

All I know is that I laughed a lot during this movie. It will once again lead to lots of controversy and imitation at thousands of workplaces around the globe. Maybe it is therefore best if you know what it is about.

But be warned. If you are easily offended, you will be offended. Majorly.