Brüno (Blu-ray) By David Vaughn   •   November, 2009 Austria's favorite fashionista, Brüno (Sacha Baron Cohen), loses his homeland talk show after causing a ruckus at Milan Fashion Week. He moves to Hollywood with his assistant Lutz (Gustaf Hammarsten) in tow to pursue worldwide super-stardom. Every attempt at making it big goes terribly wrong, but the utter ridiculousness of it all is supposed to be funny—not!

After detesting Borat, I didn't expect to be fond of Brüno, and I wasn't. Maybe I'm a prude, but I don't find his style of humor funny, entertaining, or, frankly, likable. I know I'm in the minority here given his popularity, but just because the pop culture loves something doesn't make it good. In fact, if alien beings are watching from outer space, it's no wonder they've never made contact with us.

While the AVC encode is technically sound, the material it has to work with certainly isn't demo-worthy. It starts strong at Milan Fashion Week, especially the bold color palette and strong detail. But when he embarks on his trip to Hollywood, things start to look a little rough around the edges. Details become hazy, contrast wavers from scene to scene, and there are occasional artifacts. Granted, this has more to do with the variety of cameras used in the production, but regardless, it isn't that pretty.

Things don't sound much better than they look with the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack. The dialog is mostly intelligible (although not very intelligent), and there's only occasional use of the surround speakers and LFE. There are a few chase scenes when Brüno's unsuspecting victims decide they want some physical payback for his supposedly funny antics, but even these scenes lack the imaging and dynamics of a modern soundtrack.

Bonus materials include a PIP commentary from director Larry Charles and star Sacha Baron Cohen, 41 minutes of deleted scenes, eight extended scenes, two alternate scenes, an interview with talent agent Lloyd Robinson, and a digital copy of the film. The BD-Live disc can access trailers on Universal's website.

I guess it's safe to say I didn't care for Brüno one bit. The presentation is pedestrian, and the supplements only reinforce my disdain for the production and its star. Skip it.

Release Date: November 17, 2009
Studio: Universal

Movie: 2/10
Picture: 7/10
Sound: 7/10

Review System

Source
Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player

Display
JVC DLA-RS1 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Onkyo Pro PR-SC885 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 power amplifier
Belkin PF60 power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector

Acoustical treatments from GIK Acoustics