Throughout Bruno, one wonders if the point of the film is for Sacha Baron Cohen to try too hard. He might have been with his previous effort Borat, with the difference being that film felt natural. That’s not to say Baron Cohen’s latest venture doesn’t as it’s amazing he pulled so many people in on the joke. Yet parts of it feel too scripted or that Sacha feels the need to top what he did before. Being fair, it was easier to accomplish this the first time around before Borat took the world by storm. While that movie poked fun at how inept foreigners are to our country, Bruno is a pure mockery of religion and people’s perception of homosexuals in general.

Baron Cohen does what he does best and becomes Bruno, giving him a solid back story and transforming himself. It doesn’t need to be stated, but one believes this guy actually exists. It’s a tougher sale than Borat, obviously, but Baron Cohen makes it all gel together nicely. Essentially they’re both the same character as both are obnoxious and loud with one being gay and the other being a foreigner. Both films do share similar structure as it begins with the back story, then why the lead has to come to America, and the crazy shenanigans each gets in to. Where they differ is how each goes about getting the shock value. Here, Bruno is more about offending people by being the biggest homosexual on the planet and often times, it’s offensively hilarious.

The best, and funniest, bit happens when Bruno visits a preacher in Alabama to turn him straight. Many times the preacher mentions Jesus only to prompt Bruno to make comments about the preacher possibly being gay. The hilarity is intercut with Bruno going to boot camp to give the army a different flavor. It does border on being juvenile, but it’s forgivable given how funny the act is. Of course, he does go for the shock value and it works when he’s interviewing Paula Abdul to film his potential new show. Unfortunately, the furniture hasn’t come in and Bruno has to use the pool guys as furniture and as a cart for food, only to cause Paula to walk out. He also manages to grab a short interview with Harrison Ford that’s purely priceless. Bruno doesn’t quit there with being hilarious, as his interaction with a terrorist leader should make one howl. Then there’s the end of the picture that uses “My Heart Will Go On” better than James Cameron’s opus did. It’s certainly a lot funnier placement.

Yet it’s the moments when the film tries too hard that hurt it. The most prominent thing in the trailers involves the African baby and while it is funny, it isn’t as creative as things that come earlier and later in the film. Actually, it has nothing to do with the scenes being in the trailer rather than the general sense that Baron Cohen is trying too hard to drive the point home. Even at times you can tell this is the intent by the tone of his voice as he narrates. The feeling is also felt when Bruno mispronounces the names of potential guests onto his show to his assistant, Lutz. It’s also these moments that come off as scripted rather than natural. In going too far with some of these skits, Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles sacrifice the plausibility that strongly helped Borat be so hysterical. In addition, this one has a hard time keeping up the stream of gut-bustingly funny adventures that Borat was able to do so well.

Bruno accomplishes what it sets out to do and is often times a riot, even with two ramped up, and hilarious gay sex scenes. However this looks to be the last time he could pull this shtick off as he gave Borat enough time to blow over only to give another go at it. Likely, it will be next to impossible to pull this off for a third time. For this effort though, Sacha Baron Cohen turns in another hilarious time even if it can’t quite give enough hilarity as he did with the first film. Bruno’s an offensive, gross, and outright hysterical time at the movies that should piss off most devout religious folk. Bravo.

Rating: ★★★½☆