SXSW Audiences Get a Peek Inside Bruno

Audiences at Austin’s annual SXSW Festival were treated to two clips screenings of Borat comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest film, Bruno, which does the whole Borat-thing, but with Cohen playing nelly Austrian fashion reporter, Bruno, whose been spotted on real-life runway’s in Milan, as well as at Prop. 8 rallies in California. The film is due July 10th, but to build buzz, the filmmakers played 20 minutes of footage for the Austin hordes.

The Risky Business blog saw three of the clips and explains them, saying:

“The first involved Bruno telling eager parents he was doing a baby photo shoot, and would they be willing to do outlandish things, like drop their baby several stories, in order to be in the shoot? (Of course many were.)

A second segment also involved a baby shoot, and Bruno asking parents if their baby could lose some weight or even go through liposuction because he’s too fat. in a third, he hosts a mixed-martial arts competition, which seems to be going well until he begins making out with another man, earning the boos of the crowd.

By showing both his own outrageousness and the foibles of the American public, Carlson says, the pic had the feel of Borat redux. Funny, in other words, but familiar. “You’ll laugh and groan in all the right places, but it will never not feel familiar,” he said. “It’s funny deja vu, but it’s still deja vu.”