Brüno: Satire, Humor and Stereotypes

[This op-ed originally appeared at The Huffington Post]

In April, when the first trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen's new movie Brüno debuted online, many of us in the LGBT community were cautiously optimistic about what we saw - and I was among them.

I first became familiar with Sacha Baron Cohen through his Da Ali G Show on HBO, where he played different characters who conducted squirm-inducing interviews with political leaders, media personalities and everyday Americans. The characters' clueless questions - and the actor's impressive ability to never break character - allowed them to call attention to people's hang-ups, biases and intolerance.

One of those characters, Brüno, was a flamboyant gay correspondent for the fictional Austrian TV show Funkyzeit mit Brüno -- itself a satire of programs that feed people's obsession with fashion and pop culture. Brüno interviewed fashion designers, nightclub owners and models - but he also spoke to people with anti-gay attitudes, using the setting to send up the homophobia of some of his interview subjects.

Sacha Baron Cohen's 2006 blockbuster Borat made him a household name. Audiences and critics loved the movie. And based on what I had seen on Da Ali G Show, I had hoped that I might be able to say similar things about the forthcoming Brüno.