"Brüno" struts his stuff to hilariously expose intolerance

As if the culture of celebrity worship hasn't had enough of a workout in the wake of the Michael Jackson brouhaha, along comes "Brüno," another anthropological study of outrageous human behavior and the pathology of a fame-obsessed society.

It's also a damn funny movie that skewers and humiliates a procession of real-life stereotypes who are, unfortunately, all too familiar.

Brüno is a gay — make that über gay — Austrian TV host who gets himself banished from the fashion world after a series of disgraceful incidents on the runways of Paris and Milan. Taking a cue from the clueless Midwestern farm girl looking to remake herself, he lights out for Hollywood and a fabulous new life of worldwide superstardom.

Like Borat, the Brüno character originated on Sacha Baron Cohen's British TV series "Da Ali G Show." And like "Borat," the first screen collaboration between Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles, "Brüno" uses a combination of situational improvs with unsuspecting saps in the real world and carefully plotted comedy sketches to build a character arc.

But "Brüno" is about much more than a well-coiffed and vacuously flamboyant queen on a mission to outshine Paris Hilton. In following Brüno's self-absorbed quest for fame, we also get an uproarious portrait of the homogeny and xenophobia that permeates modern culture, whether the subject is "gay conversion" in the Deep South or the conflict over "hummus" in the Middle East (or is it "Hamas"?). He may be brainless, but Brüno knows that most people care more about global celebrity than global warming.

Given Baron Cohen's actual global celebrity, it was clearly more difficult to have Brüno pull the wool over as many people's eyes, so "Brüno" feels more scripted than "Borat" — not that there's anything wrong with that. Several dupes seem to be playing along with a little too much credulity, but he nonetheless manages actual jaw-dropping, cringe-worthy, sidesplitting encounters with jet-setting fashionistas, Palestinian terrorists, Israeli diplomats, Paula Abdul, Harrison Ford (fleetingly) and former presidential candidate Ron Paul (who Brüno has mistaken for Ru Paul).

"Brüno's" coup de grâce comes at an Arkansas cage-fighting event where the restless natives "don't 'llow no homoeroticism," even though the promotional billing promised lots of "man slammin' " action. It's a cheap stunt, but intolerance and outrage has never been funnier, and nobody incites it better than Brüno, Borat or Baron Cohen.

Ted Fry: tedfry@hotmail.com