Here's my pet peeve of the day: people who suck at communication. Maybe it's an LA thing, or maybe a 20-something thing, but man, I am so sick of waiting around for people to respond to a phone call or email. It's one thing if there's a legitimate reason, like being away on vacation, but I am so tired of email / Facebook message chains with people that stretch on literally for months at a time because there's a two week gap between each message. How annoying is this? Why does it happen? Ugh. I hate flakiness.
So, while I'm in a rant-o'-doom kind of mood ...
... How about those EMMY nominations ...?
- Okay, so all in all the nominations are not terrible. There are well-deserved noms for shows like The Office and 30 Rock and Flight of the Conchords which I think are pretty much no-brainers in terms of comedy. There aren't exactly a ton of great comedies out there lately, and these are easily amongst the cream of the crop. But once you get beyond all of the fairly common-sense comedy series nods for the aforementioned shows, well, that's where things start to get a bit dicey, if not downright crazy. Some of my biggest gripes:
- How the hell is FAMILY GUY nominated for Best Comedy Series? I mean, look, back in the day I was a huge fan of the show, and I still watch out of habit and due to the fact that there is usually at least one decently funny moment per episode nowadays. But -- are you kidding me? FG was, on the whole, abysmal this past year. It wasn't anywhere near as good as it was in its earlier seasons, when maybe you could have argued that it deserved a nomination. But what's even worse -- FG now gets a best comedy nom when The Simpsons, arguably the best and funniest TV show of all time, has never, ever, been nominated in this category, even in its heyday in the 90's. Comedies that would have been more deserving of this slot: King of the Hill, Eastbound & Down, and most especially: CHUCK.
- I know that he isn't exactly the most popular with the older Emmy-voting demo, but ... personally, I think it's more than a bit odd that CONAN O'BRIEN received no love in the Variety / Comedy category. Most fans would agree that Late Night With Conan O'Brien went out on an incredible high note, with a string of hilarious and memorable final episodes. For the show not to be nominated is to me a huge, huge oversight - how can you not honor one of the funniest talk shows ever in Late Night With Conan O'Brien?
- Here's one that really pisses me off ... I know that it was a new series, and I realize that it didn't completely pick up steam until about halfway into its season ... but how can you not show some love for FRINGE? In particular, the great JOHN NOBLE, who has been absolutely incredible as Dr. Walter Bishop. I did not see better acting on TV this year, and to me it's a travesty that he is not nominated in the Supporting Actor in a Drama category.
And those are a couple of my biggest complaints. My one other general point: PUSHING DAISIES should have gotten more nominations aside from technical ones. Kristen Chenoweth got a well-deserved nod, but the fact that such a unique and visionary series couldn't get any other nominations in acting, writing, or general Best Series categories is a cryin' shame, and yet another example of where Emmy voters consistently to think outside the box (and when they do, we get a well-past-its-prime Family Guy nominated for Best Comedy Series). Would I have liked a couple more acting award noms for LOST? Sure - I'm sure that a lot of the mainstays will get awards next year after the final season wraps, but it's too bad that there was nothing for JEREMY DAVIES, who was really the heart and soul of the show this past season.
Finally, there should be a MOST BADASS award. The nominees should be Kiefer Sutherland, the dude who plays Aaron Pierce, William Fichtner, Tony Almeda, and Adam Baldwin. That is all.
-- Alright, I've had almost a week to sit on it, the people have demanded it, and so it's high time that I wrote up my review of Bruno!
BRUNO Review:
- You've got to give Sacha Baron Cohen credit - he will do anything and everything in the name of comedy, and as a performer he is 100% fearless. I've been a fan of Cohen's since I first discovered Da Ali G Show way back when. At the time, I was absolutely blown away by just how funny and original his comedy was. There were two things I think that made the comedy work so well. One was the characters themselves. Cohen has an amazing ability to create characters that are not only just plain funny, but also are an uncanny funhouse-mirror version of various "types" of people. Ali G - the wannabe gangsta. Borat - the eccentric and clueless fish out of water foreigner. Bruno - the flamboyant and effeminate euro-trash gay guy. I think one thing that reviewers in America miss is that these aren't just random characters created out of nothing. You have to take the European origins of Cohen into consideration and realize that these are, sadly - but hilariously - somewhat legit stock characters that you might find wandering around London. But regardless, Cohen so fully inhabits these characters that people on the street actually buy them as real people. And that brings me to the second part of Cohen's comedy that elevates it to brilliance -- the reactions he's able to elicit from the real people he interviews and interacts with. It's almost hard to believe - how do these rubes not realize the joke? But Cohen is a master, and somehow, he sells these characters so well that people buy it.
And to me, that's what a movie like Bruno is really all about. It's social commentary, sure, but moreso than that it's a scathing portrait of people who are too ignorant to see how stupid, how self-serious, or humorless they can be. Cohen points out people's hypocracy, their inherent prejudices, their ugliness. But at its most basic, it points out how many people don't get "the joke." People are so wrapped up in their own personal dogmas that they can't see when they're being had.
I mean, you look at a guy like Ron Paul. His scenes with Bruno are some of the film's most hilarious and disturbingly awkward. As Cohen-as-Bruno's interview with Paul turns into an over-the-top attempted seduction of the former presidential candidate, Paul erupts in anger. But in hindsight, you have to wonder ... how obliviously uptight do you have to be to actually take a guy like "Bruno" seriously?
But Bruno has scene after scene that is hilarious precisely for this reason. Somehow, Cohen has presented Bruno as legitimate to the point where his subjects take him seriously to some degree, at least at first. But then, as always, Cohen cranks up the insanity meter and that's when things get hilarious. It really is amazing though. In Bruno, Cohen finds himself alone in a room with Ron Paul. He mediates a debate between top Arab and Israeli national security experts. He sits in a room with one of the top terrorist leaders of the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade. I mean, holy lord. To do that takes some serious cajones, but the result is funny in a way that's also satisfyingly catharctic. To hear Bruno tell a terrorist leader that Osama Bin Laden looks like a "dirty wizard" is an awesome "in yo' face" moment.
And then there are all the other local yokels who are the usual subjects for Cohen's "gotcha" humor. The priest who specializes in gay-conversion, who tells Bruno that working out with a bunch of dudes is the best way to go hetero. That, and avoiding listening to the Indigo Girls. There is the rowdy audience at a taping of The Maury Povich Show who jeers Bruno for being rascist even as they are pretty blatantly homophobic. There are the attendees at a swingers' party who have no qualms about getting their freak on freely yet who think Bruno is the true freak. And then there are the rabid fans at a redneck wrestling event who have no problem seeing dudes crack each others' skulls open with a steel chair, but who are on the verge of rioting after Bruno begins making out with another guy.
All of these scenes are sort of bitingly satirical in their own way. But really, Bruno isn't a movie that needs to be the political statement of the year to be successful. Because more than anything else, the movie is funny. Very funny. And again, the humor is sometimes driven by socio-political satire, but moreso it's the two things I mentioned earlier - Bruno is just a funny character, and also, the fact that he is able to trick these people into not knowing that they are being punk'd. The priest is SO intent on preaching his anti-gay gospel that he never stops to consider the absurdity of the whole situation. Pathetic showbiz parents are SO intent on getting their kids cast in a commercial that they barely even stop to contemplate the horrific things they're agreeing to. A psychic is so determined to sell the notion that Bruno is talking to the spirit of Mili from Mili Vanili that he dares not break the interity of the moment by questioning Bruno's mock-sincere, and highly X-rated, man-on-ghost encounter with the supposed spirit. And then there's a bunch of Hank Hill-esque good ol' boy hunters, who are so uncomfortable around Bruno that they can't grasp that they are being played worse than Brad and Janet in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
My only complaints with Bruno are similar to those I had with Borat. One issue is that the narrative, scripted segments are rarely as good as the reality-based ones. Obviously there is some need to have a connective tissue to the film, but you almsot wish you could just see extended versions of the reality segments rather than the movie's mildly amusing love story between Bruno and his doting assistant. That said, there are some pretty hilarious scripted moments, especially in the beginning in the movie when we become acquainted with Bruno's ... unusual ... lifestyle. Related to this though is the fact that Bruno, even moreso than Borat, seems to integrate some heavily-scripted and staged moments into the reality segments. Most of the time the segments as a whole are so funny that you don't pay too much attention, but there are definitely some moments here that are less effective in that too many of the players seem clued into the joke. Lastly, there is that same feeling of material being recycled as there was with Borat. Namely, some of the scenes in Bruno were done and done better on Da Ali G Show. But it's not a big deal - you can't fault Cohen for paying homage to the classics.
In any case, Bruno is balls-out comedy (literally ...) that deserves a ton of credit for pushing the limits of comedy. This movie shocked me, had me rolling in laughter, and left me impressed with how far Cohen was willing to go, how far he was willing to push things. But as always, this isn't Jackass or something like that. There is a comedic brilliance to Cohen's characters and a clear method to his madness. Watching it all play out is seriously funny but also highly satisfying - like watching a master magician work an audience. You might be sick of Cohen at this point, but forget the hype and just appreciate him for what he is - one of the true geniuses of comedy working today.
My Grade: A-
And that's all for now. Have a great weekend!
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