The Other Man in the Mirror: Bruno

Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt. That is the complete name of the film and it should be noted because the film does very much that: it makes heterosexuals uncomfortable, unless, of course, you're in a gay-friendly neighborhood. And that would seem to be besides the point and not who is the intended audience. Much has been made of gay organizations being critical of the film. As The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said Friday, "Bruno," the new film starring Sacha Baron Cohen, reinforces negative stereotypes and "decreases the public's comfort with gay people." Now, as you all know that is the purpose of these organizations: To make the country comfortable with homos. Bruno instead acts as a mirror on  culture, as uncomfortable as it is, that reveals a deep distaste for most things homo, and that may be the films greatest objection: no one wants to be reminded that you are disliked.
What has essentially escaped the attention of the lighthouses of gay righteousness is that the movie is not about being gay. Objecting to this film is a bit like objecting to an interview with Nick Verrios (who curiously did raise an objection) or asking Carson Kressley to reign it in.
You have to understand this about gay life: we are asked to be comfortable about so many things that we really don't understand. We are asked to be proud of our transgendered and bisexual friends, although for the most part we haven't a clue what that life is like or about. But Bruno comes along, who seems familiar, and suddenly the gay elite is up in indignant arms.
What makes Bruno different is that  Sacha Cohen gave Bruno a penis, literally. Seeing a penis onscreen is unsettling; we are so used to seeing it in the boxed privacy of our computer screen. From the first strains of "circuit" music, Bruno, the film takes us on such a silly, dirty flight of sexual acts, its hard to not understand this is parody. But as the title suggests, it frightens straight people, and maybe some gay people.
Bruno is essentially a cultural mirror held up to a society that tries, for the most part, to be polite, but despite itself, it has a moral core. Bruno takes on and parodies many "celebrity" affectations, such as the adoption of children from countries like Africa. There has been objection to the photoshopping of baby OJ into Bruno's hot tub sexual situations, but barely a whinny about the parents of children who are willing to liposuct their children "to get the job". Strange country.
What Bruno ultimately reveals is what most gay people suspect: you can loved and respected but please, please don't get physical in front of us. This would, as GLAAD puts it, decrease the public's comfort. But Bruno is unapologetically gay, oblivious to his near riot-inciting behavior among the more aggressive heterosexuals. This is not a film that will do well in the South.
Much as been discussed of the movie's now famous guerrilla tactics. Yes, an unsuspecting Paul Abdul does use a Mexican gardener as a seat, but fortunately, she flees as she quickly senses the absurdity. The same can not be said of former  presidential candidate Ron Paul, who Bruno mistakenly thinks is Ru Paul. In a candid camera moment, Ron Paul calls Bruno, "a queer and crazy" as he leaves in a huff. It is an uncomfortable scene yet once again, Cohen reveals what is likely at the heart of many Americans.
Comedy can be mindless, crude or enlightening. Comedian, social critic and satirist Lenny Bruce, who shares a birthday with Baron Sacha Cohen was arrested in 1961 for  using the word "cocksucker".  Comedy can make some people uncomfortable. Bruno will make straight people very uncomfortable because it is they who are most revealed as reaction after reaction is caught on camera. For gay people, if Bruno makes you uncomfortable, think of him as your most effeminate friend who makes   you laugh so hard, you could cry.