By Scott Marks

Brüno

Directed by Larry Charles

Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Gustaf Hammarsten, Paula Abdul and Harrison Ford

Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars

The release of “Borat” was as refreshingly unexpected as finding hot water and an unwrapped bar of soap in a Port-A-San.

Given the character’s seemingly narrow persona, Sacha Baron Cohen used his Kazakhstani cretin to lambaste everything from anti-Semites, xenophobes and rodeo clowns to badly-subtitled foreign imports, frat boys and fat naked guys with broadloom back hair. It’s the funniest joke machine since Woody Allen’s early, funny films and the sharpest cinematic satire since (don’t laugh) Joe Dante’s “Gremlins II.”

The chances of lightning striking twice were slim to none, but who could have anticipated that “Brüno” would land this wide of the mark? While “Borat” cut a thick, sardonic swath, “Brüno” is content to regurgitate fag jokes for 83 minutes.

Brüno – flamboyant host of a TV fashion show called “Funkyzeit” and “the biggest Austrian superstar since Hitler” — was one of three recurring characters on Cohen’s agreeably tasteless HBO series, “Da Ali G Show.” Nothing exceeds like excess in Hollywood. When “Borat” struck box office gold it was only a matter of time before the comedian harnessed another character from his stable for a big screen treatment. “Borat” was released in 2006 and by all rights this film should have hit theaters no later than July 2007. It’s not as though the script for “Brüno” needed years to craft. The studio certainly didn’t require time to construct elaborate sets for this kamikaze pseudo-documentary and the post-production work couldn’t have taken more than a week.

A lot has changed in the past three years. Some may argue that “punking” became passé when Stuttering John left “The Howard Stern Show” in 2004. One year earlier Ashton Kutcher’s “Punk’d,” an MTV production that was slightly more shocking than the old Dick Clark and Ed McMahon “Bloopers and Practical Jokes” series, hit the airwaves. Pranking celebrities became more mainstream than ever, yet Cohen managed to up the ante by incorporating satire into the otherwise hopelessly mean-spirited art of practical joking.

Allan Funt had it right: the only way to capture people in the act of being themselves is to hide the camera. Several hotel workers enter a room to find Brüno and his manservant chained together in an uncompromising position. The only thing more shocking than finding a couple of bondage freaks in a hotel room is the professional camera crew lying in wait hoping to film their reactions. How can they not know this is a setup?

The best scenes in the film are the ones that are not staged. In an attempt to gain worldwide recognition as the star of a hostage video, Brüno elicits the aid of a terrorist to kidnap him. Let’s just say that insurgent madmen are not generally know for their senses of humor and the ensuing exchange offers the film’s most chilling moment. A scene, in which Brüno enlists in the National Guard in order to cure his homosexuality, did not initially ring true. According to Republican water carrier Andrew Breitbart, Cohen and crew “tricked the Alabama National Guard into allowing him onto a post, giving him a military uniform and briefly letting him train — all, supposedly, for a German TV documentary.”

If we are to learn anything from “Brüno,” it’s that Paula Abdul truly is dumb as legend has it. Could it be that she is so consumed with unearthing new talent that she is unable to recognize an established name? Arriving at an empty house for an interview concerning her charity work, Brüno asks the gardeners to become “Mexican chair people” so that Ms. Abdul won’t have to sit on the floor. By this time the needle on her BS detector should have been in overdrive. It isn’t until the celebrity judge is asked to eat sushi off a naked man that she decides to make her exit.

Cohen and director Larry Charles take obvious delight in making audiences squirm. In spite of a certain deflated feeling as the credits rolled, the film does have several solid belly laughs in addition to housing the finest six seconds Harrison Ford ever committed to film. Unfortunately, it lacks its predecessor’s brilliant edge. This time, the most uncomfortable moments lie not in the exposing of ugly truths, but in the filmmaker’s inability to define the invisible line between social commentary and stereotype reinforcement.

You knew every step of the way that “Borat” was a film with a purpose. “Brüno” just wants to engage in mean-spirited fun. If Borat is the son of Groucho, Brüno is the love child of Paul Lynde.

“Brüno” is currently playing at Reading Cinemas’ Gaslamp Stadium.