Directed by: Larry Charles
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley
Rated: R
83 minutes
Sacha Baron Cohen stars as Admiral General Aladeen in “The Dictator.” (Courtesy photo)
The reason everyone loved “Borat” (or despised it, depending on your tastes) was that it generated real reactions to manufactured scenarios of a foreigner experiencing America for the first time. Then came “Brüno,” which very few liked because the scenarios were so fake that the reactions weren’t real enough to merit watching.
And now comes “The Dictator,” the third such Sacha Baron Cohen self-obsession film, which just generates no reaction.
This is the first Cohen-centered movie that is a completely scripted, purely fictional film. It centers on Admiral General Aladeen (Cohen), the dimwitted dictator of the fictional Republic of Wadiya. (A map graphic reveals that it’s actually Eritrea with the word “Wadiya” pasted over it.) After a threat from the United Nations over his nuclear weapons program, Aladeen comes to New York to give an address to assuage the world’s concerns about both the program and his dictatorship in general. But while he’s in New York, his right-hand man Tamir (Ben Kingsley, “Gandhi”) arranges an assassination.
The assassination goes awry and Aladeen escapes unscathed—except, tragically, his luxurious beard has been shaved off. Well, what do you know, no one recognizes him without the beard. By accident, he runs into a Brooklyn hippie grocer, Zoey (Anna Faris, “Scary Movie 4”). At first he can do nothing but ridicule her and her way of life, but then he realizes she may have the key to getting back to his hotel and infiltrating, well, his own regime. And so he starts plotting how to get back, but he has to hurry, because it’s only a matter of days before Tamir turns Wadiya into a–gasp–democracy.
There’s something about the backwards nature of this plot that sounds a lot better in theory than it does in practice. A dictator fighting for oppression, democracy as the evil ploy of the bad guys; it’s a clever idea. But turning it into a movie isn’t quite right. Most of the jokes in “The Dictator” play out like stand-up comedy bits as a result, and it just feels as if everyone’s trying a little too hard to be funny. Trying to be funny worked for Cohen and his partner-in-crime, director Larry Charles, in the last two movies, since it was only a few people trying to be funny and everyone else was honestly confused. But the entire cast is in on the joke here, and what’s the fun of a joke that plays out at no one’s expense?
 |
| Ben Kingsley in “The Dictator” (Courtesy photo) |
On that note, the cast here isn’t anything to write home about, although it really should be. Cohen is entirely devoted to character, as always, but it’s getting to be an old routine now. As the co-writer, he would do well to put some more time into his next project, because short of something revolutionary, the viewing public is going to tire of his over-the-top shtick, the same way many people have become tired of Will Ferrell running around in his underwear.
Co-star Anna Faris is energetic, also the status quo for her. Zoey is a stereotype, though, so there is little else to be said except that Faris is a good sport in bringing energy to a stupid role. Ben Kingsley, meanwhile, is looking bitter, and I can’t tell if it’s because he’s in character or because he once played Gandhi.
As just some fictional movie, “The Dictator” works, but in a bare-minimum way. As another Sacha Baron Cohen movie, though, it disappoints. It’s not as bad as “Brüno,” but at least with that one there was an element of shock to Cohen’s adventures. “The Dictator” doesn’t provoke and it doesn’t shock, save for a few good jokes. But the thing is, those few good jokes are actually pretty clever. It’s clear the Sacha Baron Cohen well hasn’t gone completely dry, but can the man behind a thousand accents recover? I hope so.
Danny Eisenberg is a 2010 graduate of the Bromfield School and is currently a student at the University of Pennsylvania.
