'Bruno' trailer arrives online

Sacha Baron Cohen is set to return to our screens as gay Austrian fashion reporter ‘Bruno’. Time Out previews the trailer...

Following swiftly from the news that the latest Sacha Baron Cohen vehicle ‘Bruno’ was slapped with the dreaded NC-17 certificate in the US (promising those who chose to wait for the inevitable ‘Uncut’ DVD release an extra slimy dollop of coarse humour), the film’s trailer hit the web to assuage us of fears that all the grottiest gags would be hitting the cutting room floor. There's nudity, bigotry, pratfalls, swearing and lots and lots of dildos, so filthmongers: sleep easy.Click here to watch the 'Brüno' trailer

Bruno is one of the lesser-known characters in the Baron Cohen canon, originally appearing in a series of two-minute sketches on the Paramount Comedy cable channel back in the late '90s. He’s a flamboyantly gay Austrian roving reporter for the fictional Fashion TV channel, and from the trailer, it appears that the tried-and-tested format of blithely pushing him into a series of alienating and potential hostile situations with the usual tranche of Southern good ol’ boys and their downhome, no-fruity-bullshit ilk is the one that the makers are sticking to rigidly.

With the barnstorming success of his previous film, ‘Borat’ and, to a much, much lesser extent, ‘Ali G Indahouse’, you’d think that the entire Western population would be, if not wise to Baron Cohen’s cherished form of comic espionage, then certainly aware enough to not dig themselves into a six-foot ditch of faux pas and self-ridicule. But that doesn’t appear to be the case, with a scene in the trailer centring on four camo-clad hetero hard men sat around a camp fire being asked by Bruno what ‘Sex in the City’ character they would be. Also, according to early reports on the making of the film, there’s a scene where Bruno interviews a former Mossad agent, refers to Hamas as 'hummus' and suggests that the conflict is actually taking place between Jews and Hindus.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of ‘Bruno’ is that it's the first of Baron Cohen’s creations not to have found prior success on a TV sketch show (with Borat being given ample time to shine on 'Da Ali G Show', and Ali G finding his feet on the otherwise ghastly '11 O'Clock Show'). Such is the cinematic clout of the gangly Brit impersonator that he can now bypass the idiot box and head straight for big screen glory. Still, the Borat and Ali G characters had a fan base ready and waiting, whereas Bruno is something of an unknown quantity, so it’s hard to guess whether he’ll have to plug a little harder in the press dept to get this baby in the air. And, with this being the third and final of his original comic personae, one wonders if he will move to more ‘straight’ acting (as he did successfully in Tim Burton's ‘Sweeney Todd’ and Adam McKay’s ‘Talladega Nights’), or will head down to the basement to concoct another foul creation with which to take the mickey out of more gullible rubes.

‘Bruno’ is released in cinemas on July 10.

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