totally looking forward to his making fun of Israeli settlers at Palestine

i'm sure it'll be a riot!

Maybe, but not when so much of its humor is based on a lead character who embodies every hateful, homophobic stereotype ever conceived of. That's not a send-up of homophobia, it's a send-up of gay folks, and it is very much the equivalent of blackface in my view.

I've been a fan of Sascha Baron Cohen and his Ali-G, Borat, and Bruno characters since before he had an HBO gig when I had to download bootlegged copies of his shenanigans in England.

The point in each of his characters is exactly what you said - he is trying to embody the most ridiculous stereotypes that the 'average person' holds about each of the groups his characters represent, but that enables him to accomplish two things when its caught on video:

1) By doing things that only true bigots (or in cases such as Andy Rooney - assholes) would expect the group he's ostensibly representing with each of his characters to do, he exposes his 'victims' as such. Ali-G is the utterly clueless and shallow representative of today's urban youth, Borat is the ignorant misogynist and racist immigrant and Bruno is the terrifyingly open European gay man that longs to get it on with straight guys - and that only exists in the minds of homophobes and bigots. I mean, seriously - the people who are smart enough to "get it" rarely make for enlightening or funny interviews. See Donald Trump and the "ice cream glove" for an example. I would like to think that I'd either walk out or play along.

2) Some of the best laughs come when he interviews or interacts with people who are NOT bigots, but are willing to patiently sit through his act (though they have no idea it's an act) and in the process, play into his ingenious lead-ins. Check out the Ali-g interview with a veteran veterinarian at a farm, Borat's attempt at speed dating, or Bruno's trip to a NYC fashion event where he interviews the presenting designers.

Whether this is "good for the gays" is not my question to answer. I will say that the Bruno character has become a LOT more "out there" for the purposes of making and promoting this movie. Ironically that may take away some of the fun for me when I watch it.

“Borat, who exposed America's vulgarity, ignorance and, more darkly, its entrenched anti-Semitism…”

It also showed Americans’ willingness to bend over backwards and to put up with ridiculous antics so as not to make a stranger feel uncomfortable. Americans are, by far, the kindest people in the world. In any other country, Cohen would have been beaten within an inch of his life; yet since Americans are so generous and big-hearted he was welcomed, despite his outlandish behavior.

If you think the humor is really about dumb hicks that don’t get that Borat is making fun of them, you’re missing a big part of it. He’s making fun of everybody – the people that don’t get it is AS WELL AS the people who see it as an incisive look at the dark underbelly of America.

It’s funny, in a way, that some people don’t seem to understand that. But I guess that there will always be those that don’t understand the joke’s really on them.

The poster awhile back that said reviewers didn't notice that the Borat was anti Muslim, Borat wasn't a Muslim character. He was a made up religion that worships the hawk.

The old rodeo guy made some anti Muslim comments, as well as anti gay comments. The movie was making fun of those types of prejudices.

Was the movie mean? All those people signed the waivers to appear on screen, so I can't feel too sorry for them if they go on to say such vile things. It's not like there's a hidden camera, they know they're being filmed. Even if they didn't know it was going to be a movie, I'm sure they were aware of an invention known as the internet, and what they say will be viewed by millions.

I didn't find Borat to be mean, but some of the people that had no problem voicing their prejudices to a camera sure seemed mean. Like the old guy that wanted gay people to be hung from lamp posts.

In any other country, Cohen would have been beaten within an inch of his life; yet since Americans are so generous and big-hearted he was welcomed, despite his outlandish behavior.

While you've hit upon part of the essence of the joke - that some people are nice and patient enough to sit through the act (and it's the bigots and jerks that aren't), it's completely ridiculous to say that in "any other country" he'd have been beaten or otherwise punished. That's so far-out that I have a hard time believing you've done much traveling. I have found the exact opposite to be true. Perhaps the Bruno character would encounter more hostile environments than the other two, but essentially what you're saying is that we Americans are generous and big hearted because we don't beat an ostentatious and obnoxious openly gay guy within an inch of his life? For being obnoxious? For being gay?

Again, ridiculous.

Can anyone enlighten me on this? A lot of SBC's fans and critics see (or want to see) his work as satirizing anti-semitism, racism, xenophobia and homophobia: that the work despises the bigotry it exposes in others. And yet, I've also read that SBC himself is a religiously conservative Jew who opposes gay marriage and gay adoption. Personally, I find his humor quite conservative. The comedy is all in the outrageous offense to good taste, good manners, and the "proper" social order. Baron Cohen seems to believe pretty strongly in the rightness of these traditional norms. Any thoughts, other commenters?

Around the time Borat came out, SBC was interviewed on NPR by Terri Gross. He said that the studio hack that said he was an "observant jew" was incorrect (lying). He is Jewish, but he's not practicing.