Movie Review: "The Dictator"

When Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest comedic brainchild The Dictator began with a title card reading “In loving memory of Kim Jong Il,” I knew exactly what I was in for. Cohen still isn’t afraid to go too far, riffing on brutal dictatorships in light of the Arab Spring. As General Aladeen of the (fictional) North African nation of Wadiya, he sports an Osama-esque beard while doing his best impersonation of Muammar al-Gaddafi meets Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It’s an alter ego as entertaining as his culturally ignorant immigrant Borat and his uber-gay fashionista Bruno, but this is Cohen’s first true scripted feature, and unfortunately it’s not as strong as his mockumentary work. While The Dictator has moments of genius, they’re unfortunately spread across a mediocre narrative.

Set to a generic story of mistaken identity and culture shock, The Dictator’s titular Aladeen survives a coup d’etat and is left stranded in New York City, eager to reclaim his throne before his country becomes a (gasp) democracy. There’s a sidekick and a love interest (Anna Faris as an amalgamation of all free-loving feminist hipsters in NYC), but Cohen and director Larry Charles (of Borat, Bruno, and Seinfeld) speed through the frame story, rushing through plot points to focus on the funny stuff. Luckily, that’s what they’re good at, and that’s when the film shines. Nothing is left sacred, from bin Laden to 9/11 to torture, and Cohen brings life to even the most obvious of jokes.

If The Dictator weren’t made by Cohen, it would have been just another unfunny, stupid studio comedy; Cohen’s brilliant, politically-incorrect touch of genius is what saves the film from total mediocrity and makes it worth watching. It makes me wonder, however, if The Dictator and the Aladeen schtick would have worked better in a non-narrative setting, such as another mockumentary or a sketch comedy. While Cohen proved he still has the ability to make ‘em laugh, The Dictator neither disappoints nor dazzles, and it ultimately shows that he has room to grow creatively.