I recently had the opportunity to visit New Orleans,
Louisiana for the first time since leaving law school and moving away in 2008.
While there, I met up with an old law-school roommate, Mr. Guillermo Cancio,
and he invited me to see the new film The Dictator, which had come out the day before. Not
only was it a great chance to catch up with an old friend, but it was the
perfect opportunity for a new Buddies Forever Movie Club review.
According to IMDb, The Dictator is “The heroic story of a
dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the
country he so lovingly oppressed.” It stars Sacha Baron Cohen, who you no doubt
remember from films such as Borat and Bruno. Both those films are notorious for
their vulgarity and bigotry as they explore such issues as intolerance, racism,
terrorism, homosexuality, etc.
Both films crossed the line numerous times, utilizing
uncomfortable situations and a mockumentary filming style to dupe unsuspecting
"actors," a recipe that resonated with viewers. Granted, a slew of folks were offended
and hated those movies, but even more laughed their asses off.
I was among the masses that enjoyed Borat, and I thought
Bruno was decent, so I expected The Dictator to follow in their footsteps.
While it did just that, the outcome wasn’t the same. Instead of incorporating
unsuspecting participants by filming social pranks, The Dictator goes a pure
Hollywood route, meaning everyone in the film is in fact a real actor. There are no
contrived, awkward social interactions that have characterized Cohen’s previous
films. Removing that crucial ingredient made things somewhat bland.
While I was disappointed by this fact, there were still
plenty of classic-Cohen moments. His racism, which is passed off as naivety, is there, though hit and miss when it came to laughs, and the same can be said about the
disgusting/repulsive/sickening tactics.
One of my favorite moments involved Cohen’s character,
Aladeen, and his accomplice Nadal, played by Jason Mantzoukas, in a helicopter
tour over New York City. The two are using it as a way of reconnoitering a
hotel, but of course the situation is presented with a terrorism angle. The
scene I’m talking about has been featured in the previews, but the film expands
on it greatly. I certainly had a good laugh, even though they were speaking Hebrew and not Arabic, and there were a few other moments like it that made the film amusing.
Other things I liked were Bobby Lee’s portrayal of Mr.
Lao, a I’m-not-homosexual-but-on-a-power-trip Chinese businessman. He only had
a few brief scenes, but every one was hilarious, especially the ones featuring
his wife and an Edward Norton cameo.
Speaking of cameos, there were quite a few throughout the
movie that gave it a little spice. Fred Armisen, Chris Elliott, John C. Reilly,
Megan Fox, Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz were some of the actors I recognized and
appreciated in their limited roles.
On the flip side, I was very disappointed with Ben Kingsley’s character, Tamir, who is an advisor that betrays Aladeen. It was an extremely lackluster and halfhearted performance, almost as if he was in it simply to collect a
paycheck.
Cameos and helicopter scene aside, many of the jokes in
The Dictator fell flat. I wasn’t feeling the hairy-armpit, child-of-the earth-shtick applied to Anna Faris’ character, Zoey. I like her as an actress, but
wasn’t feeling the connection as Aladeen’s love interest.
For me, The Dictator signaled the continued decline of
Sacha Baron Cohen’s film career. Don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t crashed and
burned, but in my opinion it is waning. I loved him in 2006’s Talladega Nights:The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Borat, liked him in 2009’s Bruno, and was merely
appeased by The Dictator.
It was an alright movie, one you might find funnier
and more entertaining than I did, but I’d wait for Netflix or Redbox if I were you.
Buddies Forever Movie Club Rating: 47%
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