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On the OffensiveAfter Brüno, Hollywood depictions of gays may never be the same. That's a good thing.

By Dennis LimUpdated Thursday, July 9, 2009, at 12:03 PM ET

In Movies, Dana Stevens reviews Brüno.

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Dennis Lim is editorial director at the Museum of the Moving Image and a regular contributor to the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

Illustration by Charlie Powell. Clips from: I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry © Universal Pictures, 2007; The Naked Civil Servant © Thames Television, 1975; Da Ali G Show © HBO, 2003. All rights reserved.

COMMENTS

Bruno isn't about homosexuals or homophobia or Gay Panic Response. It's about the great obsessive subject of British Comedy; namely, humiliation. The suffering of it, the infliction of it, particularly humiliation when it comes to issues of money and class. Of course, Cohen goes to America, particularly the poor, less-educated states, to "expose" anti-Semitism and homophobia. If he'd done it in the precincts of the hip and Oxbridge-educated, they would suddenly remember that he was just a risen tailor's son and they certainly couldn't give such a presumptuous arriviste air-time on the BBC or Channel Four. It Simply Isn't Done . . . A bunch of Alabama rednecks might be able to kill you or beat you to a pulp, but they can't derail your career as a comedy writer and performer.

-- lump516
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What happened to the Bird Cage?

I thought that movie was wonderfully funny and pointed out typical stereotypes as well. It at least deserves an honorable mention.

-- tokidoki
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