Brüno (Larry Charles, 2009)

brunoSacha Baron Cohen’s follow-up to Borat is another aggressive experiment in mockumentary-style social comedy, this time featuring Cohen as the flamboyantly gay Austrian fashionista of the title. Both hilarious and appalling, the film is deeply in tune with how outrageous humor can be used to destroy boundaries and cut deep into middle-American complacency about sexuality and politics and even human decency. While not all of it works, it’s hard not to respect its chutzpah, even if there is serious question as to how much longer Cohen can keep this up. (Starplex 16, Waco, TX)