Bruno

Coming into this movie I expected to have a Borat feeling. Even though, Bruno was my least favorite of the three Sacha Baron Cohen characters. I was completely excited, and watched Borat again just before I went to go see Bruno. While watching Borat, I realized that I had seen it too much, and it was over played. The jokes didn't have the same effects they did when the movie first came out. I ignored this.

However, it lingered over. There was more shock in Bruno than in Borat, but the same played out theme of making people feel uncomfortable. Taking that thought out of my head, the movie held up on its own. I think a lot of people are just too grossed out to see "pornographic images" (not really) unless its a girl or its in a very artsy movie. Also, people tend to feel uncomfortable around homoerotic humor. Hey, its their taste.

I'm not going to go into the plot, but it basically was an 18 year old Austrian named Bruno coming to the United States to try to become famous, any way he can.

Plusses

• Sacha Baron Cohen is brilliant and funny
• well timed stunts/acts

Minuses

• Borat came out years earlier
• everything was overdone and repetitive, plus commerical didn't help spoiling it

I think this is the end for Cohen's characters. He's a risk taker and will make money especially on this DVD, but the movie has to be considered a flop.

I rate this movie 6.3 out of 10.

Funny People

To start off, Funny People wasn't exactly what I expected. I knew there would be old Adam Sandler clips from when he and Apatow lived together and it would be integrated into his character, including some his old stand up. However, I didn't realize the movie would be about 30% stand up comedy. However, to my surprise, it was awesome. The standu up from Sandler, Jonah Hill, Aziz Ansari, Aubrey Plaza, and even surprisngly Seth Rogen was top notch. The movie really delivered there.

Going with the plot, Jason Schwartzman, Jonah Hill, and Eric Bana really deliver. All 3 of them were great and funny, and had good timing with it.

Basically the movie revolves around struggling comedians trying to make it big and Seth Rogen's character gets lucky even to work with Adam Sandler's character who is a famous comedy actor who's sick. While they both learn from each other, Adam Sandler's character has trouble letting go of his ego, and the drama ensues from there. The chemistry between the two never seems natural, and for once, Rogen actually out acts Sandler as they act side by side.

Overall, the movie had some great standup, some great acting spots, and Jonah Hill was hilarious. But if you are looking for a really good plot, or something as flowingly funny as Apatow's other movies, you probably won't find it. But its a good time, none the less.

I rate this movie 7.2 of 10.