Review of The Dictator (2012) by Melvin W — 20 May 2013

General Aladeen: From the mountain tops of North Korea to the jungles of Zimbabwe, let every child labourer and sweat shop factory worker sing... Oppressed at last! Oppressed at last! Thank Aladeen, I am oppressed at last!

The Dictator is a comedy that relies on the same tactics as Sacha Baron Cohen's other movies. Mainly these tactics are create a completely ridiculous character, add a lot of gross out humor, and make it as politically incorrect as possible. As far as the movie goes, it works, but just barely. There's nothing here that would make me feel the need to see this again, but there was enough laughs to make a viewing worth it. It may be nothing more than just another average comedy, but Cohen makes average seem just a little better. .

General Aladeen has been the dictator of his country of Widiya since the age of seven. He enjoys having people executed and also having sex with famous American stars. When he must give a speech at the UN or face military action, he makes his way to America, alongside his trusted advisor. His advisor has other plans though and soon Aladeen is replaced with a double so that democracy can be brought to the country and corporations with oil interests can take it over. .

The Dictator is a slight step up from Bruno in my opinion, but just a slight step. The movie has hilarious moments that are somewhat forgotten in the mess of missed jokes, but they're there all the same. It's a movie that appeal to fans of Cohen's form of comedy, but also will repel a great number of people with what some would call a tasteless form of comedy.

Overall, this is nothing too great, but it's a somewhat fun time and the short runtime makes it easier to get through. It's a movie that you can just turn on when there's nothing better to do. It's stupid, it's raunchy, it's gross, and in ways it is tasteless. Good thing I'm not one of those people who really care about any of that stuff.