The Dictator (Rated R)

I have never really been much of a fan of Sacha Baron Cohen.  I thought “Borat” was extremely overrated, and I absolutely reviled “Bruno.”  Cohen did give me pause to reevaluate my opinion of him when he played the station inspector in “Hugo” – enough so that I’m looking forward to seeing what he does with Monsieur Thenardier character later this year in the musical adaptation of “Les Miserables.”

In that context, I went into “The Dictator” with mixed feelings. 

Cohen plays Aladeen, the dictator of the (imaginary) oil rich North African country of Wadiya.  Aladeen is shown to be a narcissistic despot who murders his people with his signature move of running his finger over his neck.  Intent on developing nuclear weapons, Aladeen is forced to speak at the United Nations if he wants to avoid being attacked.

Aladeen travels to New York where he is removed from power by his body guard (John C. Reilly) and his Uncle (Ben Kingsley) who wants to take over the country and sell off its oil rights.  He escapes, but not before losing his signature beard.  Now alone on the streets of New York, Aladeen is taken in by an activist (Anna Faris) while he plots with a former scientist (Jason Mantzoukas) to reclaim his power.

While I enjoyed “The Dictator” far more than either “Borat” or “Bruno”, the movie is suffering from an identity crisis.  The movie is equal parts crude comedy, political satire, and romantic comedy.  Unfortunately, in its effort to be all things to everyone, it fails to connect on any of these levels with any consistency.

Did I laugh? Definitely, and far more than I expected to.  The movie has moments of brilliant satire, but the in-your-face crudeness of some of the “comedic” bits really undermines the film.  It also overpowers the romantic comedy elements. 

While Sir Ben Kingsley is greatly underutilized, John C. Reilly makes the most of his small part.  I may never look at torture the same way again.  Anna Farris continues to be the queen of low brow comedy.  While I sometimes question her acting choices, she is always a breath of fresh air even in stinkers.  Sacha Baron Cohen proves there is a talented actor underneath all of the indulgent self-promotion, and I hope to see him in the hands of a skilled director like Martin Scorsese again.

“The Dictator” is a decent film, but even at only 83 minutes in length, it feels like there was a lot of padding to flesh out this story.  The movie feels like it could have been a brilliant short, but it’s mostly just an average film.

The movie is rated R for nudity, language and crude humor, as well as some violence.  Stay tuned through the credits for some of the funnier material.