The Dictator Review

Plot Summary:
Aladeen (Sacha Baron Cohen) is the ruthless dictator of Wadiya. He has risked his life over the years to make sure that democracy will never come to his country. He is summoned to the UN to address their concerns about his nuclear program.

The Positives:
I'm a fan of Sacha Baron Cohen. I enjoy the movies when he pretends to be a person from another country causing havoc and controversial jokes in America. What makes this film different from Borat or Bruno is the fact that this film has an actual story and not a mockumentary. For the most part, the film works in that aspect.

Cohen gives a fantastic performance as usual as Aladeen. The trouble he goes through is hilarious and is constantly entertaining to watch. I wished they went with the mockumentary approach for this character, but Cohen makes it work. The supporting cast, such as Ben Kingsley, Anna Faris, and John C. Reilly, are great and support Cohen's antics throughout.

I also really enjoyed the jokes in this film. Most of them involve Aladeen's experience in America, which is either hysterical gross-out humor or dumb, stereotypical humor. Regardless of what type of humor it is, it really works. I also like the Aladeen song parodies in the background, they made me chuckle at times when the scene is not meant to be funny.

The Negatives:
Personally, I was slightly disappointed with The Dictator. Although it is very funny and disgusting, I always felt they could have done more with it. The jokes are great, but sometimes they fell flat and didn't work as much as other jokes in the film.

I also felt that the pacing for the story didn't feel right either. I felt they put certain scenes in just for the gross-out humor factor and just for the point of the film being funny. I feel if they put more effort into the story, the film would be as classic as Borat was. This is the reason why Cohen should stick to making mockumentaries rather than feature films.

Conclusion:
The Dictator is full of nonstop gross-out humor and political humor and has a great cast, but it deserved a better story and a mockumentary style. For the most part though, The Dictator is very funny and worth checking out in theaters.

Rating: 7 out of 10