Reel Critic:

Sacha Baron Cohen is unique among today’s comic actors. Cohen’s first film, “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” was a critical and financial success.

Taking method acting to an extreme, Cohen stayed in character for months during the release and promotion of his film. In part due to this dogged commitment to his roles, Cohen’s follow-up feature film, “Bruno,” is being met with high expectations.

Cohen plays Bruno, a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashionista and talk show host who is fired after a disastrous incident at a Milan fashion show. With no prospects in Europe, Bruno decides to move to the United States with the goal of becoming “uber-famous.” With no discernible talent, Bruno is willing to do anything to achieve international notoriety. What he craves is the Paris Hilton variety of celebrity — being famous for being famous.

Traveling with his assistant’s assistant Lutz (Gustaf Hammarsten), Bruno arrives in America willing to try anything to get noticed. He adopts an African American infant he names O.J., attempts to interview Harrison Ford, and even tries to seduce presidential hopeful Ron Paul.

Putting himself in more danger than the “Jackass” crew, Bruno tries to seduce a Palestinian terrorist after telling him Osama Bin Laden looks like a homeless Santa Claus. In other vignettes, he tries to crawl into a redneck hunter’s tent naked, incites a riot at a cage wrestling match in Texas by making out with another man inside the cage, and torments a Baptist minister who specializes in converting homosexuals.

Unlike “Borat,” where the title character was basically a clueless Third World country bumpkin, “Bruno” is mean-spirited and not nearly as likable. While the film uses the same type of “Candid Camera” ambush techniques as “Borat,” the title character’s behavior is so off the charts that some negative reaction seems perfectly normal.

“Bruno” purports to expose rampant homophobia, and the audience is supposed to laugh at the ignorant lummoxes appearing on screen. However, Bruno is the embodiment of nearly every negative gay stereotype and is no more representative of that community than the swingers he ridicules in one sequence are of heterosexuals. Bruno’s behavior presents a dilemma to the audience in some respects. While many of his victims are deserving of ridicule, one cannot easily embrace the actions of the title character as readily as those of the lovable Borat.

“Bruno” received a rating of “R” for pervasive strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity and language. This is a hard “R” and it would not have been surprising for the film to have received the financial death blow of the “NC-17” rating. Several people walked out of the showing I attended.

Cohen’s hard-core fans will probably be among the few that enjoy this film. There are some genuinely funny moments in “Bruno,” but not nearly enough of them to warrant the price of admission or my wholehearted recommendation.