Brüno ***

Sacha Baron Cohen ("Borat") is back, this time as his other famous character, Bruno, gay Austrian fashionista. The fake working title says it all: "Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt." As in "Borat," Cohen puts Bruno in real-life situations that provoke unrehearsed, revealing reactions from a variety of ordinary and not so ordinary people. And like Borat, Bruno is totally over the top, shamelessly embodying as many gay stereotypes as he can muster.

The situations feel real, and often make you feel uncomfortable, sometimes in sympathy with the subjects, and sometimes in fear for Bruno's safety. The targets of Bruno's humor are wildly diverse, from real fashionistas to good ol' boy hunters to drunken ultimate fight fans in Arkansas. I found it flat out funny, although maybe not so funny as "Borat," but I suspect some may hate it, and not just the ones, like the middle-aged couple who walked out of the show today (what were they expecting?). I say see it.

Rated R. 83 minutes. Larry Charles - Director, Sacha Baron Cohen - Writer (screenplay) (story) (character) / Producer, Anthony Hines - Writer (screenplay) (story), Dan Mazer - Writer (screenplay) (story) / Producer, Jeff Schaffer - Writer (screenplay), Peter Baynham - Writer (story), Monica Levinson - Producer, Jay Roach - Producer, Anthony Hardwick - Cinematographer, Wolfgang Held - Cinematographer, Erran Baron Cohen - Composer, Dan Butts - Production Designer, Denise Hudson - Production Designer, David Saenz de Maturana - Production Designer, Scott M. Davids - Editor, James Thomas - Editor.

Principal actors: Sacha Baron Cohen, Alice Evans, Trishelle Cannatella, Sandra Seeling, and Ben Youcef.