Brüno," surprisingly this was not as well received. I mean, you can have your preferences about it. I personally enjoy the film even more than "Borat," but I would say that on a technical level, they're probably on par.

First of all, how much of a testament is it to Sasha Baron Cohen's character acting abilities that he was able to fool all of these people into thinking that his character was a real person? All within only a couple years of starring in one of the most talked about comedies of 2006. Remember, this is just hair and makeup. He's not wearing a layered mask and putting on a fatsuit; what sells it is his performance. There's so many details in his performance that separate this character from Borat: his posture, the way he walks, how his mouth is held open when he's not talking.Again, he's able to use himself as a character pretending to film something completely different than what people actually think they're being filmed in.

And just like "Borat" was able to make statements on racism, cultural differences, and stereotypes; "Brüno" is filled with statements as well. But they were statements about homosexual stereotypes' fame in the fashion industry. Like how much of a statement is it that some guy with a camera is able to trick people into doing embarrassing things just under the premise that's it's "in right now?"
Do I seriously have to explain the statements they're making about celebrity media as they judged Jamie Lynn Spear's baby before birth?

To me, this movie was just as intelligent and satirical, and even more extreme than "Borat." So it really makes me think of possible reasons as to why it wasn't as well received. And there's a few things that I can thing of, right off the top of my head.

Firstly, I think it's no surprise to say that Brüno was not as emulatable of a character as Borat. No one wanted to do impressions. No one wanted to dress up as him for Halloween. There is definitely more of a social stigma when it comes down to wanting to portray a gay character. Comically racist is okay, but something about Brüno makes people uncomfortable. Which gives me even more respect for how fearless Sasha Baron Cohen's performance was.

In contrast to the people who might not like this movie because Brüno's gay, there were also a decent amount of people who didn't like this movie because they thought it gave a negative image to the gay community. Calling this movie homophobic is the equivalent of calling "Borat" racist. Making fun of a stereotype does not equate to making fun of a class of people. By exaggerating the stereotypes, is he not making a statement on how ridiculous they are?

Anyway, this is a well-made movie. Definitely check it out.