Once upon a time, Sacha Baron Cohen wielded satire like a sledgehammer and slipped into disguises like a second skin. He made the world laugh, cringe, and occasionally question its moral compass. But when a provocateur swaps guerrilla gags for red-carpet polish, eyebrows rise. Hollywood has many rites of passage; selling out might be one of them. And with whispers of creative rifts, the question practically writes itself: has the mischief gone missing?

Borat director Larry Charles, once a champion of Sacha Baron Cohen’s rebellious brilliance, thinks the answer is yes, Cohen did sell out. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Charles revealed that Cohen began “pulling away” from his radical roots during The Dictator. The shift was subtle, then seismic. What followed, according to Charles, was a comedian trading chaos for calculation. Fans, predictably, sensed the shift and clutched their comedy helmets.

Larry Charles claimed Sacha Baron Cohen started leaning on advice from “traditional show business people,” and it changed the comedic chemistry. The rebel who once moonwalked through satire was suddenly tiptoeing through studio notes. The Dictator had flashes of vintage Cohen, but Charles believed the film got tangled in too many perspectives. “The movie’s not bad,” he said. “It’s good. It’s funny…” But brilliance, once watered down, rarely hits the same, even with gold-plated gags.

While Sacha Baron Cohen polished his image for Hollywood, fans dusted off their skepticism, because when shock value gets studio notes, the internet is never far behind with a hot take.

Has Borat gone boring? fans say Sacha Baron Cohen’s has lost its bite

What was meant to channel Dr. Strangelove fizzled into what Larry Charles described in his interview with The Daily Beast as a “very problematic project from the beginning.” A flurry of voices behind the scenes left the satire splintered, not sharp. Fans on X turned their timelines into mini film panels, dissecting every career turn. Many questioned if Sacha Baron Cohen’s inner provocateur had gone Hollywood, checked into a studio lot, and left the chaos back in Kazakhstan. Some mourned, others mocked, but few stayed quiet.

While some were busy launching digital tomatoes and declaring the death of daring comedy, others came to Sacha Baron Cohen’s defense, arguing that evolution is not betrayal, just a different kind of punchline.

Despite the fading of their partnership, Larry Charles still respects Sacha Baron Cohen’s raw comedic genius. But his remarks spark a lingering question: can an artist known for provocation evolve without losing their edge? As Cohen leans into prestige roles and polished scripts, even loyal fans are peering through the gloss, hunting for that old shock factor. Some now Google where to watch Borat, while others rewind The Dictator, hoping the chaos still lives between the scenes.

What are your thoughts on Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedic evolution? Is he maturing or muting the mischief? Let us know in the comments below.