The Dictator Endorses Mitt Romney

The Hill has the quote:

"He has the makings of a great dictator. He is incredibly wealthy but pays no taxes, and it's not much of a leap to go from firing people to firing squads and from putting pets on the top of a car to putting political dissidents on top of them."

The New Glitter-Bomb

Sacha Baron Cohen To Play Freddie

Sacha Baron Cohen will play Freddie Mercury in an upcoming biopic.

The film, which will focus on the period leading up to Live Aid in 1985, will begin shooting next year. "I think we'll try and keep ourselves out of it as much as we can," Queen guitarist Brian May said. Baron Cohen had been "on this project since we started talking about it seriously with Peter Morgan a couple of years ago," he added. May and Queen drummer Roger Taylor will oversee music featured in the film, which will include songs by the band and by Mercury as a solo performer. Graham King, of GK Films, which is co-producing the movie along with Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal's production company Tribeca, said Queen was "a music brand all unto itself". "Freddie Mercury was an awe-inspiring performer so with Sacha in the starring role, coupled with Peter's screenplay and the support of Queen, we have the perfect combination to tell the real story behind their success."

Good casting? I'm not sure...

Ladies Of The View On Bruno

Barbara Walters: "I don't need to know how you are doing anal intercourse!"

CNN On Bruno And What It Means To Gays

Bruno Tops Weekend Box Office

Sasha Baron Cohen's Bruno narrowly won its first weekend at the box office, bringing in $30.4M in its first three days. The third installment in the Ice Age franchise came in second with $28.4M in its second weekend. Three years ago Borat made $26.5M in its first weekend, but did so on less than one-third as many screens as Bruno. Borat went on to gross over $260M worldwide.

You've Already Seen Bruno

Last night my loyal companion Aaron accompanied me to the 7:40pm showing of Bruno at Times Square's AMC Empire 25, the nation's busiest movie theater. Folks who tend to call movies "films" like to trumpet their avoidance of the Empire due to its notoriously raucous minority teenage patrons, but I wanted to see the movie with exactly that audience.

Bruno was showing on five screens and our showing was sold out, but even arriving twenty minutes early we still had to take seats in the third row. As expected, the audience was overwhelmingly comprised of black, Latin, and Asian teens and young adults. Aaron guessed their average age to be in the low-20's.

So here's the thing. You've already seen Bruno, even if you haven't. There have been so many trailers, so many press stunts, so many alarmed and dismissive reviews - there was little in the film that Aaron and I weren't already well familiar with. And I'd say that held true for much of the audience, judging by how some of the earliest sketches were greeted with gleeful anticipation. But that high energy seemed to sink after the first reel. I can't say everybody else was as bored as we were, but judging by the increasing level of cell phone activity by the last quarter of the film, even the kids were grateful for Bruno's mercifully short 83 minute running time.

Was it funny? Meh. We laughed a couple of times, but most of Bruno features Sasha Baron Cohen's well-worn "cringe factor" style of interviewing in which you can find yourself, impossibly, feeling bad for his victims. Aaron buried his head on my shoulders during a couple of those scenes.

But the biggest question, "Is Bruno bad for the gay movement?"....well, I just don't know. There's lots to object to here; his relentless horniness, his vapid, rude personality, and the tiresome gerbil and dildo jokes. Was the audience at the Empire 25 enlightened about homophobia? Probably not. But will the movie exacerbate any distaste they have for gay people? Again, probably not. I think, I hope, that the reaction to Bruno we witnessed last night was just that of any audience that loves potty humor, embarrassed celebrities, and Jackass-style idiocy. The Punk'd generation, if you will.

After Bruno ended, I waited in a long line for the men's room and listened to the chatter. I didn't hear a single anti-gay comment - just some grousing about the fake boobs of the dominatrix and dismissive remarks about how obviously staged some of the scenes were. I'm sure the name "Bruno" will now become frat boy shorthand to describe an effeminate gay man. That's a given. (But that's better than "faggot," most might say.)

But really, Bruno is just dull. It's Cohen's one-joke schtick stretched painfully thin with a few "Oh no, he didn't!" moments to break up the tedium. The part I enjoyed the most was when the above-mentioned dominatrix gave Cohen a real whipping, raising visible welts across his torso. Does that make me homophobic? Cuz I just hated Bruno.

Letterman On Bruno

Christian Movie Site: Ban Bruno

Under the headline Stop ‘Brüno' From Molesting Children and Teens, Christian movie review site Movieguide says they are asking the government to suspend today's release of Bruno.

Movieguide® has sent a letter asking local government officials throughout the U.S. to consider stopping the screening of the controversial movie "Brüno" starring comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, Movieguide® Publisher Dr. Ted Baehr announced today. In the letter, Movieguide® asks officials to get an injunction against screening the movie on Friday until officials can look at the movie and determine whether it should be banned because it does not fit the "community standards" in their area, as defined by U.S. Supreme Court rulings on obscenity and pornography. "This movie has been cut to get an R rating," Dr. Baehr said, "but it still contains much pornographic, offensive content." Among the "pornographic" content in the movie, according to Movieguide® and Dr. Baehr, are "extremely graphic" sex scenes, including depicted intercourse, depicted homosexual sodomy, a depicted orgy, and depicted oral sex (including anal licking); explicit shots, including extensive close-ups, of full male and female nudity; and, "obscene" language about sex acts. "The movie also contains scenes mocking Jews, African Americans and Christian evangelicals," Dr. Baehr said.

Baehr's claims may actually help the movie as the reviews have been mixed at best. From David Rakoff's Slate piece, Why Bruno Is Bad For The Gays:

The film is cringily thin broth, even as many will view Baron Cohen's gay-face portrayal as a testament to his versatility as a performer. Such a performance by an out gay actor would have the opposite effect: It would be the final nail, confirming his essential uncastability. But no actual gay guy would ever have made this film. "Brüno" preaches a false emancipation. It's Jerry Lewis playing Steve Biko. A shot of Snoop Dogg, mere seconds long, rapping in the film's closing number -- which includes Bono and Elton John -- "He's gay. He's gay ..." He shrugs. "OK," does more to advance the cause than the previous, interminable 80 minutes.

If there is any comfort to take away from this it is that Baron Cohen exhibits a similar disconnect and misunderstanding about attitudes toward gay men as the government, since most polls show that Washington lags behind popular opinion when it comes to tolerance.

There will be those who will tell me to lighten up, and it's not like I don't want to. I really, really do. Brüno gets his anus bleached in the movie, whereas I don't know if there is Clorox enough in the world to make me clean again.

HomoQuotable - Peter Tatchell

"While the film scores plenty of laughs by mercilessly exposing dim-witted homophobes, Bruno's persona also embodies some really lazy, crude gay stereotypes. A sex-obsessed 'cockaholic,' he is a shallow bitchy queen who uses and abuses everyone around him. Not nice. On the plus side, ultra gay Bruno will make many bigoted straight people feel uncomfortable, which is a delicious prospect. But quite a few gay men watching this movie may also squirm with discomfort.

"Does Bruno reinforce or undermine homophobia? I am not sure. If Cohen's intention was to mock prejudice, this film doesn't always pull off the money shot. Compared to Borat, it is more hit and miss. The movie rolls back the boundaries, with its in-your-face raw portrayals of gay sexuality. Some might argue that this honesty and debunking of taboos is refreshing and ground-breaking. But do these no-holds-barred erotic depictions advance or reverse public acceptance of queer life?

"Surely no cinema can be so influential that it sways public opinion for or against prejudice? After all, it is only a film. Moreover, it is a comedy and was never intended to be taken seriously. Fair point. But although it may not create homophobia, perhaps it can reinforce and inflame it? Go see Bruno. You decide." - Noted British gay activist Peter Tatchell, speaking to Attitude Magazine.

Bruno Cuts Gay Bashing Scene

One year ago today I told you about a cage match stunt pulled by Sasha Baron Cohen in which two wrestlers kissed in the ring, rather than fought, thereby inciting an Arkansas audience into throwing projectiles and screaming homophobic insults. It took security and police 45 minutes to clear the venue as the actors escaped a guaranteed beating via a special tunnel.

I closed that post with this: "I don't know, tricking a rural crowd into displaying violent homophobia might have some value. Maybe. I'll really have to think about this."

As it turns out, that stunt closes the upcoming Cohen film Bruno, but producers have decided to cut the final scene because it made light of gay bashing.

According to writer-director Richard Day (Arrested Development), who saw the film at a screening in February, "The cage-match kiss resulted in a violent attack on the couple. They then cut to a press event where they are announcing their marriage or plans to, I forget which. But the boyfriend is now drooling, seemingly brain-damaged, and in a wheelchair, played for laughs." Day notes that he and actor James Plotnick raised a stink about the ending after the screening and, though he's not sure if their protest had anything to do with the altered ending, it was changed to the less potentially offensive version for one reason or another.

Somebody please explain to me how the now-deleted scene was supposed to have been funny. "Oh, ha ha ha! That kissing faggot has brain damage! Hicks hate homos! Hilair!" Something like that? Really?

I still plan on seeing Bruno because it won't be fair to take part in what will surely be endless post-release dissections if I haven't. But right now I have a feeling I'll agree with GLAAD's nervous read on the film: "Some people in our community may like this movie, but many are not going to be OK with it. Sacha Baron Cohen's well-meaning attempt at satire is problematic in many places and outright offensive in others."

Bruno: Satire Or Minstrelsy?

Some folks are concerned over Sasha Baron Cohen's upcoming Bruno movie, saying that the character crosses the line from satire into stereotyping. I don't care for Cohen, usually, but I'll likely see the film.

(Via - Towleroad)