I hadn't seen Borat as of the last threads, but now I have, and some of the Ali G show. This:

You only said it to lead your interview subjects to the thin line between patience and intolerance in order for their true personality to reveal itself.

seems completely, stupidly wrong to me. Borat was hilarious, but it was Jackass-hilarious. I didn't recall any social commentary there, or in Ali G. I would describe Cohen as a version of Johnny Knoxville or Tom Greene.

Note that Firefox tells me it prevented entertainmentwise (target of the "this" link) "from opening 6 popup windows", which seems a bit excessive.

Here's Baron Cohen on the Daily Show, not in character. Stewart doesn't ask any interesting questions...

Borat was hilarious, but it was Jackass-hilarious. I didn't recall any social commentary there, or in Ali G.

I think everyone latches onto the creepy brilliance of the "Throw The Jews Down The Well" bit and casts all of the Borat bits in that light, but really, the rest of it is just a game of "hey, look how stupid you can make people look by taking of their natural inclination to err on the side of politeness." Deep, revealing satire it is not.

This is also pretty fucking shitty.

Agreed, that link makes the filmmakers sound pretty stingy, and crass at best. Except for one paragraph:

Two members of a fraternity at a South Carolina university who appear making drunken, insulting comments about women and minorities also are suing 20th Century Fox and three production companies, claiming the crew got them drunk in a bar before filming and told them the movie would not be shown in the United States.

"We're only racist and misogynist when we think our family and girlfriends won't find out! Promise!"

5: Lawsuit sponsored by the Mel Gibson Foundation?