Yesterday, Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest feature, The Dictator, hits theaters everywhere and the questions on everyone’s minds is, is it good and is it funny? The answer to both: mostly yes.
The Dictator follows Cohen’s next creation, General Admiral Haffaz Aladeen, a showboating and semi-retarded dictator who loves his power and would do anything to make sure democracy never comes to his state of Wadiya, an oil rich nation located in North Africa. When the United Nations begins taking a closer look at Wadiyan affairs and sees that it may be building atomic weapons, taking the advice of his Head of Secret Police and Chief of Secruity, Uncle Tamir (Sir Ben Kingsley), the Supreme Leader decides to take a trip to NY to address the UN. It is in NY where, under the orders of his uncle, he is kidnapped and his body double takes his place in order to open Wadiya to the world. With the help of an exiled Wadiyan scientist named Nadal (Jason Mantzoukas) and a feminist and owner of the Free Earth Collective, Zoey (Anna Faris), General Aladeen will do what he must in order to prevent democracy from reaching his country.
What separates The Dictator from Borat and Bruno is that this film is totally scripted and everything, for the most part, is planned, where as the first two films were like improvised documentaries. It’s nearly impossible to tell what Cohen is improvising during the film and what is actually scripted but, believe you me, he covers the complete range of comedic ground. The jokes range from beyond offensive to simple toilet humor and everything in between, even though the movie itself is a political satire of sorts. Hell, there will even be moments of silence because some of the jokes just aren’t funny and the picture can actually get slightly boring.
As expected, some of the jokes are extremely offensive, especially for residents of NY, but those were actually my favorite particularly because you could literally feel the audience dividing with some people laughing at how far Cohen was willing to go while others were scoffing in anger. It was something I’ve never really experienced before and it just shows how, with Cohen, nothing is sacred. Al
l I ask is that you pay attention to the smaller details, especially the music, because he and director Larry Charles make sure everything has the Wadiyan touch. For example, you’ll hear their version of Dr. Dre’s The Next Episode, which is hilarious.
It’s no surprise that Cohen steals the show but I was taken aback by how good Anna Faris held her own against his dominating presence. I think the fact that she looked like a teenage boy trying to battle a dictator made her much more fun to watch. Sir Ben Kingsley was also good but he just wasn’t that funny, I think his role could have been played by someone else and it would have had the same effect on me. Jason Mantzoukas was great as the ousted scientist, the one scene he has in the helicopter with Cohen is absolutely priceless despite its subject matter.
Overall, The Dictator is nowhere near as sidesplitting as Cohen’s previous endeavors but it still is pretty funny and will have people in shock from how far he goes. Not only that, the film is actually pretty smart in the way it boldly attacks politics and how it bashes American ways right in your face. For old fans of Cohen you’ll enjoy his latest but will want more, for new fans you can expect to be shocked, appalled and will probably die of laughter.
Rating: Not his best, but the Supreme Leader is still pretty damn funny (6.3/10)
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