Fort Smith on the big Screen in "Bruno"

Arkansas has made it into a Sacha Baron Cohen film. In his latest film, "Brüno," Cohen portrays Arkansans as stereotypical drunken rednecks, and some have called it the funniest film of the year. Reviewers have also called it the most offensive film of the year, which is typical of Cohen's work. Maybe Arkansas shouldn't feel too bad about being targeted.

The film takes a look at the debate over homosexuality through the eyes of an Austrian fashion journalist. From most reviews I've read, everyone comes off looking like a biggot, not just Arkansans.

I haven't seen the film, but an article in the Southwest Times Record says:

Placards went up announcing an evening’s entertainment featuring dollar beer and caged fighting at the Fort Smith Convention Center. Hundreds of old boys lined up for those enjoyments. [which were filmed]

“Bruno,” a gay Austrian fashion designer, stepped into the cage and challenged a fellow to a fight. Right there in front of hundreds of drunken ruffians, the fight inevitably turned to mutual attraction and near-lovemaking, to homoerotica, between Bruno and his combatant-turned-lover.

Apparently, Cohen also filmed the crowd's reaction to the event. I can imagine what a convention center full of drunken, violent "old boys" looked like.

I think this sums it up nicely, actually:

Cohen had staged a similar event a few nights before in Texarkana, but Fort Smith earned more screen time on account of more impressively thrown plastic beer cups and chairs.

I think I'll wait for the film to be available on Netflix. Cohen's "Borat" was ok, and this film sounds very similar. Most accounts say it's even more crude than "Borat." Something tells me I might want to be able to fast forward through it.