Bruno: Prepare to Cringe, Laugh

'Tropic Thunder' leads the way

(NEWSER) - The decade had lots of lousy movies, but 11Points rounds up the most disappointing—those that didn't live up to their promise:

• Tropic Thunder (2008): Amazing cast, great premise. Slam dunk, right? Not when "your go-to bit is a retarded joke." Such a lazy waste.
• Bruno (2009): Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat follow-up "didn't expose homophobia—it manufactured homophobia."

(NEWSER) - Sacha Baron Cohen is box-office gold, but he can’t pull it off again … or can he? Eric Ditzian looks at some possibilities for the Brüno star’s future.

• "A Fourth Wacked-Out Journalist." Some thought Brüno couldn't fly after the exposure Borat brought, but the multiplex says otherwise. "No doubt, Cohen and his mischievous team could make a fourth movie work." (First film Ali G Indahouse didn't make it to US theaters.)

(NEWSER) - Brüno came out on top at the box office this weekend, but the way he did it didn’t inspire confidence. The shockumentary did spectacular business on Friday, only to plummet on Saturday, Time reports, leading some to wonder if it’s the first victim of the “Twitter effect.” In today’s high-speed communication environment, execs worry that bad word of mouth may not wait until the second weekend to catch up with a movie. More»

(NEWSER) - Bruno catwalked its way to the top of the box office this weekend, taking in $30.4 million, the Los Angeles Times reports. That’s a better debut than Sacha Baron Cohen’s earlier button-pusher Borat saw, though Bruno faced a steep drop-off in ticket sales after Friday. Holdovers Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ($28.5 million), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($24.2 million), and Public Enemies ($14.1 million) rounded out the top four. More»

Comedian appears as himself for once to discuss film

(NEWSER) - Sacha Baron Cohen made a rare appearance as himself last night on the Late Show, telling David Letterman about Bruno’s interview with a real terrorist, the Huffington Post reports. “When we were making this film, we thought, what could people see that they’ve never seen before on film?” Cohen said. “And we thought one thing would be a comedian interviewing a terrorist.” More»