‘Bruno’ makes punks of us all

I was a big fan of “Borat.” When I saw it, after having just spent an extended period out of the country, I laughed so hard that I thought I was going to choke.

There are parts of “Bruno,” Sacha Baron Cohen’s follow-up comedy, that certainly are funny. But the thing is, you can do something for the first time only once. And “Bruno,” for all its strengths, is warmed over “Borat.”

As directed by Larry Charles, the same guy who helmed “Borat” (Cohen created the characters, co-wrote the screenplays and starred), “Bruno” unfolds the same way – as a road trip.

An eccentric, deluded character – in this case an Austrian fashionista named, yes, Bruno – makes his annual pilgrimage to fashion week in Milan. But things go wrong, and he is cast out (he wears a suit out of Velcro, which of course sticks to everything).

So, in a time when to become a star all one has to do is be willing to preen on national television, he decides to go to Los Angeles. He ultimately ends up meeting (and getting dangerously close to) a group of “swingers,” some Deep South redneck hunters, former presidential candidate Ron Paul, various representatives from all sides of the Middle East (which Bruno calls “Middle Earth”), Hollywood types (including a clueless agent and parents who are willing to put their children through virtually everything to get their offspring a job). And more.

It’s a cavalcade of fools. And Bruno (Cohen) is right there with them, coaxing them into behavior that we’re all then invited to … do what? Recoil at? Laugh at? Vomit at? All three at once?

As I said, “Bruno” is full of outrageous moments. But it lacks focus. And in the end, it seems mostly mean, kind of an extended episode of “Punk’d.” Not that most of the people Cohen and Charles portray don’t deserve it. It’s just that we can all, when caught at the wrong moment, seem silly and stupid and clueless.

My suspicion is that applies even to Cohen himself – without the disguises.