While not as popular today as the Sarah Palin bikini video, the new red-band trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno is making its way around the blogosphere this afternoon to the delight of many a film writer. I was surprised by the video for two reasons:

1. Universal didn’t really need to release this thing so soon, because the NC-17 rating story brought plenty of buzz to the film for one month, let alone one week. As Steven Zeitchik wrote at Risky Biz Blog, word of the MPAA’s initial decision was already “like a really inexpensive trailer.”

2. Following the hype of the SXSW footage and the “objectionable” material referenced by the MPAA, this trailer actually seems a bit tame compared to what I was expecting, especially from a red-band trailer. It’s a perfectly funny ad and doesn’t do anything to my high expectations for the film, but considering all the excitement this week, I couldn’t help but find it disappointing.

Of course, as usual, few others agree with my disappointment. I know, I’m a cynical curmudgeon who is called a “goon” and a “muckracker” by his friends, but I’m just being honest. Anyway, I’m certain that I’ll be laughing my ass off when I see Bruno in its entirety, so my immediate — and slight — disappointment with the marketing isn’t affecting my anticipation whatsoever. Plus, the following bloggery ballyhooing is going to make more noise than anything I have to say, right?

• “This thing looks epic,” writes Cole Abaius at Film School Rejects. “From the trailer and the footage we’ve see, it looks like he’s keeping all of the best things about the character in tact while ramping up the stakes, displaying just how far he’s willing to go to make comedy.”
• “It’s just nasty,” writes Erik Davis at Cinematical. “How is it nasty? I think a better question would be how is it not nasty — from the looks of it Baron Cohen has upped the ante considerably since taking on the Borat character back in 2006.”
• “While Borat made us dumb Americans feel ignorant of the big old world out there,” writes Richard at Gawker, “Bruno seems like it will make us feel childish and whiny, afraid of sex and other weird, gross things. Bring it on.”
• “Believe me when I say it is everything I had hoped it would be… and more!” exclaims Sean at Film Junk.
• “Though it doesn’t seem possible, this looks even funnier than BORAT,” claims Omar Aviles at JoBlo. “A lot funnier.”
• “To my disbelief, it looks twice as funny as Borat,” agrees Ryan Parsons at CanMag.
• “It will again make us laugh–at least until the non-stop impressions make us never want to see the character again,” notes Mark at I Watch Stuff.
• “‘Borat’ the film doesn’t have a lot of staying power,” agrees The Playlist, “but it was riotously hilarious on the first viewing and ‘Brüno’ looks like it will do the same only with an even more aggressive bent of social satire.”
• And unlike me, Dan Hopper at Best Week Ever thankfully believes the trailer doesn’t disappoint. Of course, he seems to have had lower expectations:
  

  While watching the trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno, I experienced a brief moment of hesitation right at the start — what if Cohen gives way to an inevitable letdown? What if the humor hasn’t aged well in the past five years? What if the film is forced to pander more to the mainstream than Borat? What if Cohen pulls his punches for fear of a wider audience’s backlash against his faux-gay shenanigans?

  Twenty seconds in, I was laughing, and all faith was quickly restored.

Ooooh, but wait; some of my peers actually have a similar perspective to mine:

• “Except for maybe the velcro jumpsuit bit,” writes Stephen Saban at World of Wonder, “this taste of Bruno just didn’t seem funny to us. Certainly not worth lying about our age to watch. But we anticipate the film.”
• “I actually really liked the Bruno segments that aired on Sacha Baron Cohen’s HBO show - but this didn’t really strike me as being very funny?” complains Gina Telaroli at TakePart.
• Lane Brown at Vulture is also disappointed:
  

  Exactly what part of this just-released trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen’s Brüno — which ostensibly requires you to be 18 to view it — necessitates a red band? A guy says “shit,” and there’s a part with dildos being used for martial-arts purposes, but aren’t these clips generally supposed to be way racier?…This isn’t even as objectionable as the trailer for I Love You, Man! We’d certainly hate to think the marketers behind a film about making homophobes uncomfortable were worried about making homophobes uncomfortable.

• Dustin Rowles at Pajiba has his doubts:
  

  It looks funny. I guess. I mean, I saw Borat. Twice. In the theaters. And I kind of felt like that was enough of the Sacha Baron Cohen uncomfortable-humiliating-rednecks documentaries. Dan saw some footage of it in Austin, and he felt that it was basically Borat with a gay guy. The trailer bears that out. He goes hunting. He adopts an African-American baby and names him O.J. He chases around a guy with two dildos. It’s all very ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha … I guess.

Now, here’s the trailer so you can add your own comments below: