Bruno: brilliant but believable?

film: Bruno: brilliant but believable?

April 6 2009 | Laura

I was in the cinema at the weekend, taking the time out to see The Boat That Rocked (a fine feature, for what it’s worth). I almost jumped out of my seat when I saw an ad for Sacha Baron Cohen’s new movie, Bruno. Now I’m the first to stand up in defense of the Sacha and his crazy character creations, but I am somewhat skeptical of this new production and I believe rightly so.

Featured in the trailer was a clip of him on an American chat show. A real life chat show, on which he appears as Bruno, his gay fashionista alter-ego. What gullible idiot would be fooled by Sacha these days? Everyone knows the Borat movie (or at least the publicity around it) and if not, at least Ali G. It’s not like SBC is one of those people that just blend in or have a forgettable face.

And if you can’t even recognise one of the world’s most recognisable comic characters then, just like the people who get fooled on April the first, not only will you have the piss taken out of you mercilessly, but you deserve it, too.

To me, like many (I suspect), April Fools has become a bit pointless - and I don’t understand why it’s still so faithfully observed. I’m not calling for it to be eradicated or anything, but there needs to be some element of, well, surprise injected back into it.

I spent the entire day of April 1 waiting for someone to freak me out or play a trick on me to make a fool out of me. On high alert, I suspected everything and anything that seemed in any way slightly out of the ordinary. I was intent not to be the one, numbskull, nay, moron who everyone else would think less of because I forgot.

But nothing. No one even attempted.

This is either a prime example of how the tradition of April’s Fools has now waned, a sad commentary on the state of the ChannelFlip office, or else I just have a reputation as a brainbox and no one even bothered. I’d like to think the answer is the latter, but my gut is wrenching towards the first option.

Entitled ‘April Fool’s Day’ it’s hardly unsuspecting. The 1st of April does exactly what it says on the tin, in fact it does exactly what it says on the calendar. No matter how funny or creative you are at coming up with pranks, the odds are stacked against you.

I firmly suspect that if we changed the date of this day of tomfoolery to an as-yet-unspecified date at some other stage in the year, things would get a little more interesting. The spirit of April Fools would return. Maybe we could change the date on a rotational basis. But we wouldn’t actually tell anyone. Because that would defeat the point.

This way people will be far less suspecting of a potential prank, and thus the chances of being fooled and looking like a complete wanker are much higher.

It would change the traditional slightly, making it less of a prank to, well, quite a cruel enterprise. But who cares the cost when the reward is hilarity? Just ask Bruno.

-LKW

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Stonefox

April 6th, 2009 - 9:55pm

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film: Bruno: brilliant but believable?

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The UK's Finest Video Channel for Switched On Men

film: Bruno: brilliant but believable?

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