The Dictator

I went to see this movie with my friend. I would consider that we both have a good sense of humor and are open to all sorts of jokes. I have seen other movies by Sacha Baron Cohen, like Bruno and Borat. I found Borat to be hilarious, but Bruno was a bit over the top for me. This movie strikes a balance between the two, but leans more towards (my personally favored) Borat side.

The comedy in this movie is both hilarious and uncomfortable at times. It has the same LOL- quality as it did in Borat, but there are scenes where the comedy is so crude that it is almost uncomfortable watching/listening to it. The movie is definitely funny, but you will not enjoy it if you do not find jokes about racism and stereotypes funny.

The plot is your typical Sacha Baron Cohen plot; a person from an entirely different culture travels to America and you watch how incompatible the two cultures are. Also, just like most of Sacha Baron Cohen movies, there is a love story intertwined. It's not the dramatic and sensitive kind of love story though. The plot itself is not very immersive, and I believe that its only purpose is to lead you to the funny parts.

I will say this though, the ending speech of this movie given by 'The Dictator' really impressed me. It made me realize how well Sacha Baron Cohen understands politics and stereotypes. You have to hear it for yourself.

If you're looking for a movie with consistent but crude laugh-out-loud comedy, but do not look for a serious and powerful plot, then you will enjoy this film. On the other hand, if you cringe at racist and stereotype jokes, you will be covering your ears virtually the entire movie.

Approach with an open mind.

I re-watched it and it is not as great as borat but it has lot of amazing parts the comedic timing is also good It has re-watch potential sacha is such good actor in comedy movies.

When the UN threatens the nuclear program of the Republic of Wadiya, the dictator Hafez Aladeen (Sacha Baron Cohen) decides to go to New York to make a speech in the assembly. However, his minister Tamir (Ben Kingsley) is plotting a scheme to topple Aladeen and sign multimillionaire contracts with foreign oil companies to make him a tycoon.

Tamir hires the torturer Clayton (John C. Reilly) to kill Aladeen, but he fails and the dictator flees without his long beard. Aladeen unsuccessfully tries to reach the Lancaster Hotel and he meets the owner of the store of natural products Zoey (Anna Faris), who is protesting against the presence of Aladeen in UN. She believes that he is Allison Burgers, a refugee from Wadiya and brings Aladeen to her store to help him to cater the hotel. He stays with her while he tries to find a means to break in the hotel with his comrade Nadal (Jason Mantzoukas).

The politically incorrect "The Dictator" is one of the funniest and most intelligent criticisms I have ever seen in many years. Sacha Baron Cohen is hilarious in the role of a dictator and only his speech in the United Nation explaining what a dictatorship is to people used to "democracy" makes the movie worth. But there are several other jokes that made me laugh most of the time. Further the cameos are also a great attraction, especially Megan Fox in the role of herself. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Ditador" ("The Dictator")

Most of the movie is pretty witty. The satire is crude and unfiltered, but most of it is pretty spot on. A bit like South Park stories but with bigger children.

The gross out humor however could have been way shorter. Some low hanging fruit lowest common denominator jokes were drawn out unnecessarily. I had to skip several 10 minute parts, but I missed none of the story anyway.

The love story part was forced. The suspension of disbelief was stretched so far it was almost painful.

Overall it was a reasonable story and I did laugh several times.

It could have used some extra editing and other extra care, then it would be a really good movie.

I saw a preview screening of this in London.

As expected from Sacha's previous outings and trailers, this film is in extremely bad taste with plenty of filth, blatant offence (disguised as naivety) of every race, gender, age, animal, disability, sexual orientations, terrorism and politics. Sacha gets away with it because no one is left out. No one, including white folks and straight men. Actually, I lie. I don't know how the hell he gets away with it. The important question is, though, is it funny? Yeah...mostly.

There are enough roll in the isle moments to make this worth the ticket but there are also plenty of misfired jokes too, some of which really makes you groan but that's to be expected for a relentless joke firing machine which incidentally has (perhaps mercifully) a short run time of 84mins.

Another burning question I ask myself, while watching this is do I feel guilty laughing at some of the offencive jokes? Yes I do, my guilty conscience raises its ugly head but then I realise (or perhaps I'm just making excuses) that I am laughing at the Dictator's naivety and hilarious sense of misplaced morality while others around him frown at his demeanours.

This is a departure from the Borat, Ali G, and Bruno stable. With those previous films, real people are sought after and ridiculed by scrutinising their reactions and moral bases. This film, however is purely fictitious, Naked Gun style comedy very much similar to Eddie Murphy's Coming to America with obviously a lot lot less subtlety. However, Sacha's Dictator has pretty much the same political correctness that Borat has but with more hilarious Dictatorship cravings such as executing anyone that annoys him.

A good supporting cast thankfully gives this zany film a little bit more variety, particularly Anna Francis, comically playing off the Dictator's character who frankly dominates almost every frame (as I guess a dictator would). John C Reilly also gives a short but hilarious turn. And then there are a few special cameo celebrity guest appearances (or victims, rather) sprinkled around.

There are a couple of moments political satire that stands out in hilarity and I wish there was more of it. Alas, it seems vulgarity is more favoured.

So if you have no guilty conscience, welcome vulgarity and all things "un-pc" with open arms, do not despise Sacha Cohen Baron and are willing to kiss his armpits (last one is optional), then I reckon you will enjoy this film. For me, filthy films are not my normal cup of tea, nevertheless I did enjoy this but I need a long shower after watching it.