3:31:32 PM Will Edmondson: So Tara, this week's Embarrassing Movie was "Bruno," but I'm not sure if it was really "Embarrassing."
3:32:03 PM Tara Ariano: It was embarrassing for me in the sense that I was watching it with you.
3:32:25 PM Will Edmondson: Why, because I was cracking up most of the time?
3:32:57 PM Tara Ariano: No. We were worried about "The Girlfriend Experience" constituting an HR violation, and "Bruno" made that look like "Pollyanna."
3:33:24 PM Will Edmondson: Oh right, that.
3:35:02 PM Tara Ariano: But even though I didn't really want to see it -- as you have written on this very site, the PR kind of overwhelmed the movie -- I'm not sorry I did. It was...an interesting undertaking.

3:36:24 PM Will Edmondson: Okay, well here's the thing: The whole movie was billed as so "shocking" and "cringeworthy" and Barbara Walters is about to mutiny, and blah blah...but like, yeah, it was "shocking" but...I don't think the "controversy" was any worse than "Borat."
3:36:56 PM Tara Ariano: Let's be real, here. It was basically the same movie, minus the moustache, plus homosexuality.
3:37:53 PM Will Edmondson: A lot more homosexuality, to be fair, but yeah. I think it was actually more "fake," because there were some scenes that were obviously, ridiculously staged.
3:38:21 PM Tara Ariano: Oh, yes. There's no way that "Medium" extra gig was real.
3:39:16 PM Will Edmondson: No. That was a stretch.
3:39:39 PM Tara Ariano: And yet, the part with the fame-seeking parents of infant models, willing to put their children in danger just to book a job? I am sad to say I think that was real. Hang your head in shame, LOS ANGELES.

3:40:05 PM Will Edmondson: I mean, that was the hilarious and troubling part to me. The gay stuff, like, okay, we get it, people are homophobes. But those parents, and the crowd at that "MMA event" and those hunters...I mean, that stuff was hilarious. That's the best part of those movies -- like when Borat went to the rodeo -- it's all about making Americans look as stupid as possible, and in those instances, mission accomplished.
3:41:53 PM Tara Ariano: Yeah -- I guess I wonder how often that point needs to be made. But that might be just because I'm Canadian, and mocking Americans is all we do (in private, where you can't hear us).
3:42:38 PM Will Edmondson: Which is like a kitten hissing at a jungle cat, but whatever.
3:44:16 PM Tara Ariano: Is the point here ultimately to mock Americans, though, or homophobes? I know it's a comedy and that he doesn't have a mission or a message or whatever, but if you're going to take on a (flamboyantly) gay persona in order to subvert it, I kind of feel like you kind of have to earn that. And I'm not sure the climax of the film (as it were) didn't undo whatever came before it.
3:45:44 PM Will Edmondson: Oh, no, it's definitely more against homophobes than Americans, but the Americans who get it this time are all homophobic. Like, the "gay converting" preachers could've been Australian and it wouldn't have mattered. I just think that you can't take this as anything but candy. And I'm going to get crap because I made the argument against that for "Drag Me to Hell," but I can defend "Bruno" for not having any core values, because the entire premise of the movie is based on everything being ridiculous. But I agree that it's kind of dishonest to make the claim that it's a statement against intolerance when you're proving it by turning the "shock value" to 11 in a hotel room with Ron Paul.
3:49:07 PM Tara Ariano: Yeah -- don't make me feel bad for RON PAUL, movie.
3:49:31 PM Will Edmondson: Well...I didn't...is that wrong? I feel Bruno treated him the way that Paul treated the American electoral process, but perhaps I'm editorializing too much.

3:50:06 PM Tara Ariano: ha! Politics aside (which...you can't really separate politics from a premise like this, but let's pretend you can): I did laugh. I never watched "Da Ali G Show," which spun off this (and "Borat"), but I do feel like both must have been much more effective as sketches. Trying to make them have a story seems like too much baggage to put on such ridiculous characters. And to me some of the funniest bits were just tiny throwaways. Calling Brad Pitt "Bradolf Pittler" might have been the best line of the movie.
3:52:00 PM Will Edmondson: Yes, that's completely true. "Da Ali G Show" as a show is vastly superior to both "Borat" and "Bruno."
3:53:11 PM Tara Ariano: Essentially, the idea is just to put unsuspecting people in a fake-interview setting and make them look dumb, but no one wants to make a movie out of the field pieces from "The Daily Show." I thought we all agreed as a culture that we weren't making movies based on characters from sketch comedy anymore, generally.
3:53:55 PM Will Edmondson: Except Lorne Michaels and "MacGruber." But I take your point.

3:54:36 PM Tara Ariano: So: screenplay nomination at next year's Oscars? Yes? No?
3:57:44 PM Will Edmondson: No. I mean, chances are after three weeks, I'll be anti-"Bruno" like I was anti-"Borat," and then a couple of years will pass and I'll think it's funny again, like "Borat." But, don't get me wrong, I laughed really hard throughout that movie.
3:59:37 PM Tara Ariano: You really did. I didn't laugh as much as you, but that might be because seeing the movie a block from Penn Station meant I was conducting my own sociological observations on casual homophobia in 2009, using the audience as a sample group.
4:04:02 PM Will Edmondson: Yeah, but I mean, there's a difference between homophobia and not being comfortable seeing incredibly graphic scenes on a 20-foot movie screen during the dinner hour. I mean, heterosexual scenes that graphic would've gotten a similar response, I'm assuming.
4:05:20 PM Tara Ariano: I don't know, when he was getting belt-whipped by a dominatrix, people weren't groaning; they thought that was hilarious.
4:05:59 PM Will Edmondson: I mean, I can't get into specifics, beacuse this is a family blog, but let's just say that the scene with his male lover was a tad more explicit.
4:06:46 PM Tara Ariano: Right, but that's where I wonder whether part of the filmmakers' point was that to a non-straight audience, the dominatrix scene would be just as weird and uncomfortable to watch.
4:07:13 PM Will Edmondson: Uh. I doubt that was their point.
4:07:25 PM Tara Ariano: You're probably right.
4:07:32 PM Will Edmondson: I'm definitely right. So, we should talk about the upcoming changes to the format, right? Big Movie Wednesday?
4:08:14 PM Tara Ariano: It was your idea, so go for it.
4:08:52 PM Will Edmondson: Okay, so here's the thing, Internet: We hate embararssing movies. So starting next week, we're going to see the biggest movie in the country (whichever comes in #1 at the box office the previous weekend), rather than a movie that's just purely "embarrassing." But, don't worry, because usually the biggest movie in the country is more than a little embarrassing.
4:11:05 PM Tara Ariano: Certainly, there is often overlap in the middle of that Venn diagram.
4:11:46 PM Will Edmondson: In other words, we'll still get to see "GI Joe," most likely, but next week will almost certainly be "Harry Potter," And I am PUMPED!

4:12:19 PM Tara Ariano: I don't know, "(500) Days of Summer" could still pull out a win!
4:12:53 PM Will Edmondson: There's no way that will happen.
4:13:35 PM Tara Ariano: No. Not even if everyone who goes this weekend bought 500 tickets.