2009 July, 13th

Phil Butler

If you need still more proof that humanity is headed for a veritable “Ice Age” of intellectual stimulation, just watch the box office. The latest offering, staring Sacha Baron Cohen, Bruno, topped Friday’s openings at theaters grossing a reported $14.2 million, just edging out the third Ice Age. Borat, Cohen’s excursion into low budget idiocy, grossed $9.2 million on its first day comparatively.

Entertainment Weekly film critic Owen Gleiberman hits the proverbial nail on the head in calling the film “tasteless” and its impurity as satire. Some will find the overburdening “toleration” motif with regard to human sexuality a little like beating dead horses as well. Alternative lifestyles are after all, pretty well accepted, or at least 100 fold more so than ever before. Like Borat, for this writer especially, the popularity of mediocre things in general baffles the mind. I think Bruno is another example of Hollywood trying to capitalize on our own shallow tastes.

In fairness to this genre of films (if it is a genre at all), we watched a film on DVD the other day from none other than Clint Eastwood. As far as low budget “filler” type presentations of art go, Gran Torino, though a decent story line, was in fact a waste of time as well. I guess Hollywood figures, “Why spend hundreds of millions to make money, when a few hundred thousand can make more?” I was dumb enough to rent something just because of Eastwood’s legacy, so who am I to hammer Bruno fans? Well, my only defense is that one might come to expect more from someone like Eastwood, but the maker of Borat? Forking over a days pay to be stupified does seem a little “challenged”, doesn’t it?

If you think the movie was short on PR – Matt Lauer versus Bruno:

The only saving grace to this news is the fact that people, especially young ones, actually still like the kind of feeling they get from films like Ice Age. If there were only an Ice Age equivalent to Twitter, then all the sane people in the world could take heart in the hope that idle idiocy will not lead to the promised land. Of course, as entertainment goes, maybe we would all be better off if Hollywood would reflect a little more in the way of true values, rather than taking advantage of our frailties. Bruno is as much a negative apparition for the gay and lesbian community as it is a satirical conduit to understanding. Maybe it is not always good to laugh at our differences, for as we know many of those laughing are the very ones resistant to our beliefs.

Bruno is another example of our own frailties and faults brought to the screen, not to make us better people, but in the end to demean us.. This is my opinion, and I know there will be those who disagree. The fact that the movie was number one at the box office simply indicates that there just are not that many good movies out, or that what the public really wants stupidity, and in this case, the more stupid it gets, the better. As for Eastwood, the last time I was that disappointed was when he made “Every Which Way But Loose.” For all intents and purposes Gran Torino cost Eastwood pocket change, as he did everything but work the camera in boring us to death nearly. As for the public, you get what you want I guess.

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• 2009/08/26 -- Andy Griffith, at 83, Still Wants to Play the Game
• 2009/08/24 -- Grace Kelly, A Lesson In Serenity In A Time Of Sensationalism
• 2009/08/14 -- Michael Douglas Sick Over Son Cameron’s Drug Arrest [video]
• 2009/08/04 -- Tatum O’Neil Hit On By Dad Ryan At Farrah’s Funeral? Classy!
• 2009/07/28 -- Why Bollywood and Actresses Like Katrina Kaif Rule the Web
• 2009/07/02 -- Remembering Karl Malden – The Common Man’s Hero

About the Author

Phil Butler is editor-in-chief of Everything PR and senior partner at Pamil Visions PR. He’s a widely cited authority on beta startups, search engines and public relations issues, and he has covered tech news since 2004. Phil wrote in the past for ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, Profy, SitePoint, Search Engine Journal, AltSearchEngines. Follow Phil on Twitter or send him an email at phil [at] pamil-visions [dot] com.

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