Never mind the kugelsack, Brüno has real chutzpah

If you thought the naked fight scene with Azamat Bagatov in Borat was as much as you could bear, it might be best to stay away from Brüno.

Last night I went to see Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest offering. Arriving at the cinema I innocently wondered what could possibly be in the film to have led the classification board to give it an 18 certificate.

An hour and a half later, and after a level of obscenity that shocked even this gritty Northerner, it was pretty obvious.

Without giving away too much of the 'plot', I can only say it takes real guts to wander around America with a selection of gay sex aids, criticise a leading terrorist for his appearance and provoke 100 African-Americans on a Jerry Springer-style show.

And those are just the bits that are mentionable in a family blog...

How Sacha Baron Cohen keeps a straight face while acting out the role of the gay Austrian fashion critic is beyond me. That he avoids serious assault and injury at the hands of those he mocks is perhaps even more remarkable.

Sure, much of it is staged, but SBC has the “I’ll play innocent while you show yourself to be racist/homophobic/antisemitic/completely stupid” performance down to a tee.

Borat offered a chance to show Americans belittling a foreigner. Brüno takes things to a new level. And it’s absolutely hilarious to boot. I laughed so much I was in pain.

Given that he started out as a normal young Jewish lad in north London, attending Habs and performing in Habonim plays, Baron Cohen is clearly a boy done good. And that’s before we get round to mentioning Isla Fisher…