Brüno Stinks

I liked Borat, portrayed by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, although there was one scene where my eyes went to the ceiling. Our kids, being teenagers, thought it was the greatest movie ever. Brüno is a different matter. We lasted about a half hour, leaving as a joke was being made about the abortion of a baby. The plot was thin-- a failed Austrian fashionista trying to be a professional celebrity in Los Angelas. Rather, the movie was a collection of skits with the intent of inciting homophobia in one way or another. The Harkins theater cautoned that this movie had "strong sexual content". What that meant was not pretty nudity or joyous love-making but visuals of ugly naked men and bodily fluids and mechanics. It wasn't funny or entertaining. So we swapped in our tickets for the romantic comedy "The Proposal".

In this movie, Sandra Bullock plays a ruthless book editor Margaret who faces deportation to her native Canada. She blackmails Andrew, her compliant excutive assistant, into a ruse of pretend engagement to avoid the wrath or the immigration authorities. They end up in Alaska where they battle wits with with his rich father, played by a Craig T. Nelson and his fiesty grandmother, played by Betty White. The plot was predictable but the characters were likable and it was an improvement over Bruno.