Well this film was on yesterday. I'd seen it before but gave it a second viewing. Now it was almost universally panned, accused of being homophobic and basically being the lowest common denominator but to me its quite fascinating. On the surface the premise and production of it do indeed make it seem incredibly offensive to gay people, but the underlying message of the film is actually quite positive. Yes, its chock full of stereotypes, but ultimately its about acceptance and tolerance of others. I cannot stand Adam Sandler (his presence is enough to make any film offensive!) but this particular flick is pretty watchable if you can take a bit of tongue-in-cheek. It was certainly far less offensive to me than a similar satire on homophobia: Brüno which weirdly received a lot more praise despite being to me utterly tasteless, crass and of no real benefit to the discussion. I really did go off Sacha Baron Cohen for a while after that.
Interesting. I pretty much figured it was just gonna be like a dumb attempt at justifying gay marriage by someone (adam sandler) who doesn't know what they're talking about, contradicts themself a bunch of times and misses the point completely in the end. That's the vibe I got from it about 30 minutes in anyway so I turned it off but I admit it isn't fair to judge a movie til it's over. So I guess what you're saying here is pretty much the movie made mistakes but it's heart was in the right place? I don't really like Adam Sandler enough to give it a second chance, but it's interesting to hear someone from the LGBT community actually stick up for this movie for a change. Maybe there's something to it afterall..
It's been a long time since I saw that movie. I barely remember anything about it. But I remember it being OK. I have nothing against Adam Sandler. But I have never seen him anything I can say is better then "OK". lol
I should preface this by saying Im a fan of both Sacha Baren Cohen and Adam Sandler. Now, I wasn't offended by Bruno or I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry. I can see how the stereotypes and some of the content could be taken offensively or seen as making fun of the lgbt community, but for the most part, I think it's harmless. There's rarely a Sacha Baren Cohen flick that doesn't strike my fancy, and Bruno is no exception. I thought it was funny. Perhaps a little lost plot-wise, and very shallow, but I feel everyone knew what they were getting into with it. SBC's more successful films have been gross exaggeration of stereotypes. They're meant to be offensive. No one has ever gone into a Sacha Baren Cohen flick saying "I can't wait for whatever his character is based on to have a fair representation." His humour is over the top and stupid, and that's what sells. I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry on the other hand, is a very different matter. While not an overall amazing film, I also feel it got more flack than it deserves. It's been many a moon since I last watched the movie, so there's not much more I should say about it. In the past, when lgbt characters or themes are included in big productions, it has mostly been just for taking cheap shots at them, and that's pretty much fine with me. Both the films are over five years old, and I honestly think that movies being released nowadays will have a much harder time including stereotypes and jokes towards the community without seeing some decent backlash. Gays aren't just for comedy relief anymore :0 A movie I feel should be included in this thread is I Love You Phillip Morris, for example. This movie came out the same year as Bruno, but was vastly different in it's interpretation of homosexuals (this isnt really a fair comparison considering Bruno was just a mockery of one character, not the whole community but idgaf). At the beginning of the film, it gets all its cheap shots at gays out of the way, and as the movie continues, we find ourselves in the middle of a love story between two men, with minimal stereotypes. If you haven't seen it yet, OP, you should, if only because I want to hear your opinion on it ohmygod i just wrote a fucking essay
I'm probably just not a SBC fan (although I do like Ali G). I could see where he was going with Bruno (unlike Borat which just felt like it was unfairly poking fun at Khazakh people, laughing at them rather then with them), but I felt it missed the mark in focusing more on cheap jokes and getting the audience to laugh at Bruno rather than the narrow-minded people he was exposing. Yeh, its not an amazing film, but it is pleasantly surprising in how watchable it is. I do understand some of the criticisms it received but at the end of the day its about homophobia - what better way to show that then having a contrast between burly firemen cracking gay jokes and very flamboyant characters (stereotypical maybe, but these folks do exist at the end of the day). Theres actually that quite touching scene where Adam Sandler's character sticks up for the woman's camp gay brother. I heard some people criticising the element of the two pretending to be gay (particularly Sandler pretending to be gay to hook up), but I feel thats a valid plot device - it is funny seeing the characters naively assuming stereotypical roles initially, then learning more as the movie progresses. Off topic but its just reminded me of a Jon Culshaw sketch parodying gay British TV fashion personality Gok Wan suggesting hes actually straight: Is Gok Straight? - The Impressions Show with Culshaw and Stephenson - S1 Ep2 Preview - BBC One - YouTube Now some may think its off colour, but its an extremely good impression of Gok (who is always very "hands on"; he has his mannerisms down to a tee!) and so the joke really works. Yes I have seen it. At first I was thinking "god this is offensive and patronising", but then I did like the fact that its a film that features a gay main character you know the audience will be rooting for - that is a rarity in film.
