Brüno

Having just watched the outrageous, shapeless Brüno, I am sure of one thing and one thing only: Sacha Baron Cohen is the bravest man working in comedy today. Following up his crazed 2006 improv exercise Borat with another flick about a foreigner poking fun at American prejudice, Cohen travels so far outside of the boundaries of bad taste that he may be permanently stranded in a comedic prison of his own making.

But don't feel bad for him. This seems to be exactly the way Cohen likes it. He approaches comedy with a go-for-broke attitude and a wild imagination that allows him to wallow in genital humour and dangerous slapstick gags. He hurls a hundred jokes at his audience in hopes that at least one will stick. And while some of those jokes crumple and curl and fall to the floor, enough remain present to make Cohen's efforts worthwhile. He may go further than anyone else to get a laugh, but at least his manic work ethic pays off.

Like Borat, Brüno is a partially improvised, partially scripted endeavour in which one of Cohen's character creations conducts strange interviews with various people in order to expose rampant prejudice and get a few laughs along the way. This time around, Cohen has set his sights on homophobia, so it makes sense that Brüno is a flamboyantly gay man who embodies all of the stereotypes and clichés that have come to represent a specific view of homosexuality.

In an attempt to give Brüno some semblance of story, a fabricated plot depicts Brüno as the host of a fashion-minded Austrian talk show. Following a career-destroying mishap, Brüno finds himself without work and in search of fame. He decides to pack up his things and travel to Los Angeles with his assistant Lutz (Gustaf Hammarsten, apparently game for just about anything), where he plans to become a celebrity. Following his arrival in Los Angeles, Brüno lets it all hang out (literally) and the scathing satire is put in full swing.

With the basic exposition out of the way, Cohen is free to do what he does best: turning darkly uncomfortable situations into hilarious moments of comedic bravery. To list all (or even some) of Cohen's extreme experiences would sacrifice the surprise, so I won't go into detail about the parade of gags that fill the screen with increasing intensity and unapologetic vulgarity. Suffice to say that Cohen takes the comedy further than most viewers could possibly expect and that he never exhibits anything resembling restraint.

It is interesting to note that many of the people who Brüno meets along the way come across as decent, well-meaning persons. No one really comes across as evil and despicable (well, hardly anyone), but they do dig themselves into a hole by expressing their deepest feelings about the supposed wrongness of homosexuality. Even then, Cohen is really only exposing certain groups of people who have long since voiced their opinions in a loud and clear manner. Many of the awkward moments in Brüno are offensive and sad, but the thoughts and feelings on display aren't exactly new.

Brüno also makes a point of skewering the absurdities of celebrity culture, which results in some very funny, if somewhat familiar, observations. But for every satirically punching point that feels like something I've seen and heard before, there is always Cohen standing in the middle, making the joke his own. The power of Cohen's work as a performer is that he is so deeply consumed by the character that he plays that I cannot takes my eyes off of him. Watching him bring Brüno to life is like viewing the most committed comedic version of method acting imaginable. How anyone can stay in character in some of these situations (okay, all of these situations) is beyond me. For that reason, I must applaud Cohen for taking comedy performance to a new level.

When I look at the whole package, Brüno is barely a movie at all. It's really just a series of complicated gags hastily slapped together and given a title. The movie is as loose and slippery as Borat, which means that fans of that movie should have a very clear idea of what they are getting themselves into with Cohen's latest. But while Brüno is a messy collection of big jokes and biting satire, Cohen's onscreen ability is something entirely remarkable. He proves himself to be a fearless performer, a master of improvisation, and an unforgettable comedian whose explosive energy and imagination is amazingly unmatched.