Sacha Baron Cohen has been riding the crest of some serious waves for the last couple of years movie wise. Borat, Bruno and the wonderful Hugo all spring to mind. So, is The Dictator another movie that has the Ali G star riding the crest of a wave or is it going to be a wipeout.
Admiral General Aladeen is the dictator of the republic of Wadiya, an oppressed nation where a hand gesture from the Admiral General signals immediate execution. In exchange for jewels and large sums of money, celebrities prostitute themselves out to Aladeen for a few minutes of pleasure. Besides the celeb banging and people killing, a nuclear programme is also on the cards and unless Admiral General Aladeen addresses the United Nations in New York, air strikes shall commence against Wadiya. So, as any Dictator does, they trundle off to the U.N. along with a massive entourage. Between the camels and the Lamborghinis, Aladeen ends up being ousted from his entourage and being unrecognisable. Can he get back into power, can he stop his body double from making Wadiya history, will you even care?
By now you should know what to expect with Sacha Baron Cohen. Laughs. And lots of them. Granted in The Dictator, the laughs aren’t as plentiful as they have been in the past. That said, when they do come they provide a welcome relief from the clunky script which is all over the place. Like Borat and Bruno, The Dictator has the audience waiting for the next gag, and they don’t come as fast here. Even the predictable love interest, won’t do much to stimulate an audience.
This is a very predictable movie. And while there are a few exceptions, mainly in the guise of a few gross out gags, its not enough. Sacha Baron Cohen has proven himself to be a talented actor and at times he looks quite constrained in his performance. It’s like he wants to get the “acting” out on the screen, but for one reason or another he doesn’t really deliver here. Neither does Ben Kingsley, who looks like he reinvented some of his Prince of Persia role and just took a large sum of cash. Anna Farris on the other hand is sweet and convincing, but again, you don’t really care about her character. One has to wonder would The Dictator been far better off if, it just concentrated on death and destruction as opposed to going a mile off tangent with this story.
It’s not entirely a disaster as a number of the set pieces are original and laugh out loud. The “birthing” scene in particular is brilliantly realised and in the closing quarter it does try and push a little bit of a sincere political message. Overall, The Dictator has just about enough laughs to keep you entertained, but ultimately this is signalling the end for Sacha Baron Cohens “characters”. Which is no bad thing. Maybe now he can concentrate on some decent movie roles. This could have been something truly brilliant but instead it ends up being somewhat disappointing, predictable and just about average.
(at a push)