Borat

Comedic actor and film star Sacha Baron Cohen has leased out his Sunset Strip area house for $9,000 a month. But the major real estate deal this summer for Baron Cohen and his wife, actress Isla Fisher , was the purchase of a nearby Mediterranean compound listed at $18.9 million. Set behind hedges on close to 4 wooded acres, the gated property includes a main house, a guesthouse, a swimming pool, a detached theater, a wine room, a tennis court with a clubhouse and a caretaker's cottage.

A 7-by-4-foot American flag comprised of hand grenades and M-14 rifles cast in rubber. A monolithic Chanel logo constructed from more than 5,000 Lego pieces — in Gucci colors. Caravaggio's masterpiece, "The Incredulity of St. Thomas," remade with the apostles apparently questioning the authenticity of Jesus' Louis Vuitton robe. Artist Jason Alper, the co-creator of Sacha Baron Cohen's infamous characters Ali G, Borat and Bruno, is obviously not interested in playing it straight.

The British are coming, again, tonight, some by basic cable, some by premium. "The Inbetweeners," on BBC America, is a British version of a form of American comedy in which high school boys try to buy liquor and have sex. Narrator Will (Simon Bird), whose father has died, has had to switch from private to what we call public school, where he is immediately marked as an outsider, "a freak," and many words and phrases I can't print here. Still, he feels superior to the system, which he nevertheless fails to conquer.

Friday brought a dose of both good and worrisome news for Universal Pictures, the studio behind "Bruno." The good news: The second feature comedy starring Sacha Baron Cohen of "Borat" fame had sold $14.4 million worth of tickets on its opening day, a strong start that, under most circumstances, would mean the film was on its way to grossing close to $40 million in the U.S. and Canada for the three-day weekend.

Larry CHARLES sees the world as a place of chaos and anarchy and describes himself as an "apocalyptic thinker." His sense of agitated intelligence and playful subversion has come through in everything he has been involved in, including the television shows "Seinfeld" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and the feature films he has directed, "Masked and Anonymous" and "Borat." His latest film is “Religulous,” which opens Oct. 3. Starring comedian-satirist Bill Maher, the film takes as its topic the broad notion of religion, covering the big three of Christianity, Islam and Judaism as well as other stops along the faith-based way. As insightful as it is impudent, as thoughtful as it is hilarious, "Religulous" fits in perfectly with Charles' previous portraits of a world gone wrong, except this time it's for real.

A judge in New York has tossed out a defamation lawsuit brought by a businessman shown in the movie "Borat" as he is chased down Manhattan's Fifth Avenue by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Federal Judge Loretta Preska says the term "newsworthy" -- defined in its most liberal and far-reaching terms -- can be applied to the 2006 hit movie. The lawsuit had sought unspecified damages for Jeffrey Lemerond, a Dartmouth College graduate and financial analyst. In the movie, Lemerond is shown running and yelling "Go away!"

THE commentary on Sacha Baron Cohen's mothballing of his character Borat ["Dissecting the Tao of 'Borat' -- Did We Learn?" by Hillel Felman, Jan. 4] is wildly off the mark. Cohen should be commended for ditching this character. But as a visual artist, a proud board member of the Veteran Feminists of America, one of the unwilling subjects in Cohen's vast moneymaking empire and an example used in the article, I believe Cohen also needs to go further.

On Dec. 21, in an interview with the UK's Daily Telegraph, actor Sacha Baron Cohen announced the retirement of his two most popular alter egos -- hip-hop wannabe Ali G and Kazakh journalist Borat. Not everyone was heartbroken by the news. To begin with, there's the multitude of people pranked by his feature film, 2006's "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"; Baron Cohen has jokingly estimated the number of resulting lawsuits as "about 3,000."

In late December, Sacha Baron Cohen announced the demise of Borat and Ali G. What can we say about these heroes, one a pigeon-toed champion of his motherland, the other the duck-toed favorite son of his hood? I submit that these dear fellows were, yes, philosophers in drag, plying the ancient dilemma of relativism for all to hear. Let us pay our final respects by having a look at Borat -- the movie and the lesson.

I agree with what Mary McNamara says ["The 15-Second Syndrome: When Fame Meets ADD, Nothing Stays on Top for Long," Dec. 16]. This society is spoiled; it is an instant-everything culture. People want to drive their cars to places in four minutes. But "Borat" is not forgotten. Sacha Baron Cohen's movie is among the funniest ever made. "High five" is said everywhere. I hear it all over the place. If you make something good it won't be forgotten. James Cordova Diamond Bar