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With a single dessert and just two glasses of wine our bill was kept in check - but the effort of doing so was not much fun
First look: Bruno movie shocks just like Borat
By Mark Blunden, London Lite 16.06.09Get ready to watch from between your fingers - Sacha Baron Cohen's latest comedy is every bit as cringe-making as his earlier hit Borat.
Hold on to your hats: Sacha Baron Cohen at last night's premiere
In fact, considering it boasts a pygmy sex scene, Hitler jokes and dancing genitals, the film, called Brüno, might even be worse for some viewers.
Jonathan Ross and David Walliams were among 80 invited guests who attended a special screening of the mockumentary in London last night. Cohen, 37, plays gay fashion presenter Brüno, trying to make it in LA after being sacked from his job in Austria.
Dignified: Baron Cohen's fiancée Isla Fisher on red carpet in Paris
In one scene Brüno asks a pushy mum if she would be happy for her toddler to lose 10lb to appear in a photoshoot and possibly undergo liposuction to reach the target weight. The horrified audience squealed "Oh no!" as they watched the mother agree.
In another sequence, Brüno decides to become heterosexual - " l ike Tom Crui se, John Travolta and Kevin Spacey" - and appears on a US talk show where his adopted African baby is taken away from him. But while most critics have praised Brüno as an ironic triumph, some gay groups in America and Austrian commentators think Baron Cohen's stereotyping went too far.
Ross, who presents the BBC's movie review programme Film 2009, tweeted about the film when he arrived home, telling Twitter: "We just got back from watching Brüno. Was very funny. Not as funny as Borat, but funny."
The private viewing at the Soho Hotel was screened shortly after the film's premiere in Paris where
Cohen wore gold lederhosen and was photographed with male models in similar dress. His fiancée, actress Isla Fisher cut a more dignified figure on the red carpet. The film goes on general release from 10 July.
