You don’t have to be a dog nut to enjoy Netflix’s new series It’s Bruno! But it sure doesn’t hurt.
Otherwise, how else could we feel the offense taken by series creator Solvan “Slick” Naim when he sees dog owners who don’t curb their pooches? Or people who don’t restrain yapping pets? Or, worst of all to Naim, listen to people call his beloved puggle by another name? It’s Bruno!
Part whimsical comedy cross-pollinated with part street-savvy drama, Bruno! may be Netflix’s strangest series to date. Episodes typically range from 11-15 minutes. There is no real character arc (from human or canine actors). Some scenes are dog-food-commercial cute, only to be peppered with scenes of adult-only viewing, including sex, raw language and drug abuse. There’s no graphic violence, but think Benji Meets The Wire.
To appreciate It’s Bruno!, it helps to know a little bit about why rapper Slick Naim is making the show; he wrote, produced and directed it. According to press reports, Naim got Bruno from a rescue shelter five years ago, and he thinks the dog is so awesome that, in 2015 he made a 10-minute short film that had Naim and Bruno trying to go to a supermarket. Netflix was so impressed, they produced the show (which continues the pair’s efforts to get into the store).
But it’s exactly the small scale of the stories that gives the show its charm. Lives aren’t at stake here, just contented pets, and what a nice change of stakes. Naim plays Malcolm, who gives Bruno the best food — premium turkey meat — and lets him eat at the table. When he walks Bruno around his block in Bushwick, Brooklyn, he’s very sensitive to slights. When a woman pets Bruno without asking, Malcolm reaches out and pets her granddaughter, asking her why the dog shouldn’t feel any less annoyed by that behavior.
When he gets to a corner, he regularly meets his “nemesis” Harvey (Rob Morgan) and his dog Angie. They get into an impromptu obedience competition, which Bruno loses when Malcolm can’t get him to respond to “down.” They vie for dog walking customers. They compete for local dog ads.
In one episode, Malcolm tries to track down the hipster who is not picking up after his dog. In another, he intervenes when he meets a crack addict trying to sell a stolen husky from his shopping cart, claiming it is a “Dire Woof from Games of Thrones!”
Perhaps the most entertaining character is a hyper chihuahua that yaps its head off every time he sees Bruno. Naim cleverly translates the barks in closed captioning and man, is that dog vulgar.
But that’s the point of Bruno! In a sea of true-crime stories and police dramas, what a binge-able, pleasurable change of pace for a series. Make Bruno a police dog and you’d probably have a great buddy cop series.
