Consensus: ‘Brüno’ equally hilarious, squirm-inducing

By Jonathan Tully | Movies | July 09, 2009

Sacha Baron Cohen as Austrian interviewer Brüno. (Universal Studios)

A couple of weeks ago, we had the “critic-proof” movie, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: Unstoppable no matter how few stars/thumbs-up/etc. it gets.

This week, we have the movie many of us couldn’t wait to see what critics thought of it: Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest comedy/not-really-a-documentary Brüno.

Would they slam it as being too overly stereotypical? Or would they continue to lavish praise on Cohen, as they did with Borat?

Well, Brüno, in which Cohen plays a gay Austrian reporter, is getting a lot of love. It scored 77 percent at Rotten Tomatoes and a 77 at Metacritic.

Many critics enjoyed how Cohen and director Larry Charles continued down the uncomfortable road they started with Borat:

• Sean Larson of LarsonOnFilm.com says the reflection in the mirror Cohen puts up is definitely worth a look: “With Brüno, Sacha Baron Cohen holds up another mirror to American society, and if anything we’ve only gotten uglier since Borat.”

• Roger Ebert says the movie takes you all over the map: “There should be a brief segment at the next Spirit Awards with John Waters conferring the Knighthood of Bad Taste to Sacha Baron Cohen.”

• But not everyone is on board with Sacha/Brüno. Some critics are finding his style tedious, including David Stratton of Australia’s At The Movies: “Call me a grouch, but I found myself on side with Harrison Ford who, when stalked by Brüno for an interview, tells him exactly where to go.”

(This was immediately followed on the show by Stratton asking his cohort, Margaret Pomeranz, for her comment. She said: “You’re a grouch.” Hey, the guy asked for it.)

Sam Rockwell stars in 'Moon'. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Moon: In a way, Moon is as audacious a movie as Bruno — unlike most sci-fi summer blockbusters, Moon is quiet and has almost zero special effects.

It stars Sam Rockwell as an astronaut coming to the end of his shift on the moon and eagerly awaiting his return home. Rockwell is basically the whole movie — although Kevin Spacey provides the voice of Gerty, a well-intentioned though uncomplicated computer.

Moon scored higher at Rotten Tomatoes (89 percent) than Metacritic (66), probably due to the different ways the site scores reviews.

Stephen Cole of The Globe and Mail remarked that Moon harkened back to a different time in sci-fi: “Watching Moon is kind of like seeing a booster rocket thrust seventies’ sci-fi films deeper into orbit.” But Peter Rainer of The Christian Science Monitor warns: “It just may be the most boring movie ever made – period.”

I Love You, Beth Cooper: Ladies and gentlemen, we may have just hit the bottom.

This teen sex comedy starring Hayden Panettiere actually scores a 0 percent on Rotten Tomatoes at this time. It performs better on Metacritic at 34.

(And to think, this was directed by Chris Columbus, who did one of the best teen comedies ever – Adventures in Babysitting. What happened?)

CinemaBlend’s Katy Rich has nothing at all good to say – not even about Panettiere, who clearly doesn’t share her Heroes character’s indestructibility: “I’ve got no sympathy for Panettiere, who dives into her first star vehicle with minimal charm or effort.”