Vass√ºp! No amount of twirling spin can explain away the fact that Br√ºno has landed on his butt in a critical zone as yellow as his lederhosen. Not surprising that a movie that was polarizing from the moment we first heard about it would score some reviews as low as 10 (The Wall Street Journal) and 25 (San Francisco Chronicle), but what sunk Br√ºno’s average so deep is the relative lack of enthusiastic praise. Only 4 reviews on metacritic rate it higher than 85, while 15 are lower than 65.
Here’s where I like to fall back on the infamous 58 score for The Reader, a sword that swings both ways — both to justify hating the movie and as example of how badly critics can miss the boat. There’s probably justification for wondering how much those mid-50 scores are about the movie’s entertainment value, and how much they’re related to stubborn preconceptions about its uncomfortable themes. (or, as Br√ºno might pose the question: “With Germany annexing Austria comes so much ze focus on ze foreskin. Coincidence?”)
But critics were ecstatic over Borat, so we can’t really claim that they’re too easily offended. Nope, it simply seems that for too many viewers too many scenes in Br√ºno tipped the scales of bad taste in the wrong direction. Many critics might be ready to accept Sacha Baron Cohen as the next John Waters, but this time around they found a little more Divine than they could handle.
That said, reviews are unreliable enough in predicting what people will pay to see, but their consensus opinion becomes absolutely meaningless when it comes to evaluating what makes us laugh. I can’t make a personal judgment call because I haven’t seen the movie yet. But as for awards? Ich don’t fink so.
