Review of The Dictator (2012) by Adam F — 16 Sep 2013

"The Dictactor" is often offensive and shocking, but only a few times throughout is this actually good thing. The film begins in the fictional North African Republic of Wadiyah, which is ruled by a tyrannical ruler named Admiral General Haffaz Aladeen. Aladeen is an enormous idiot, kills anyone who disagrees with him, brutally oppresses his people and spends his money hiring Hollywood actors for sex. His lecherous, misogynist anti-western ways have made him many enemies and after the UN learns he is only weeks away from developing nuclear weapons to attack Israel, he is summoned to New York to speak to the United Nations. When he arrives, he is kidnapped and replaced with a body double. His beard is shaven so that no one will recognize him but he escapes before he can be tortured to death and the assassin hired to dispose of him accidentally incinerates himself. Aladeen befriends Zoey (Anna Faris), who offers him a job at her alternative lifestyle co-op. The ex-ruler spends the rest of the film searching for a way to reclaim his throne before the conspirators announce to the world that The Republic of Wadiyah will become a democracy.

The problem with "The Dictator" is that the joke gets old about 30 minutes in. At first there are a lot of laughs that can be found as the film constantly tops itself by showing the debauchery Aladeen is capable of. When he becomes a regular civilian of New York though, the movie isn't nearly as funny. You're left with the same kind of "fish out of water" jokes you've seen hundreds of times or the same kind of comedic scenarios that have already been done to death in both "Bruno" and "Borat". Hey look, he's using foreign-sounding, made up words instead of "penis" or "balls". How original. Even worse, as the film progresses further and slows down even more, you're stuck thinking to yourself that half of the atrocities used as comedy fodder here are probably half as bad as things that are happening in real life and you start just hating the central character. Some of the comedic moments feel incredibly forced to the point where characters act against their pre-established personalities just so we can have a couple of laughs. I'm pointing the finger particularly at a scene where Aladeen and a fellow Wadiyan are taking a helicopter ride and speaking in their foreign tongue. They make references to the number "911", fireworks and numerous important buildings in the states and are mistaken for terrorists. This might be funny except for the fact that these two lunatics are actually looking to build a nuclear device and Aladeen is personal friends with Osama Bin Laden. Anna Farris is charming as usual but even her character can't save the movie. With the unrated version we get more references to Sacha Baron Cohen's genitals and a really embarrassingly bad and nonsensical assassin that kills people with her enlarged breasts.

At an hour and a half, the movie wears out its welcome, proving that sometimes outrageous characters made to offend are better left to television, short films of cameos inside bigger stories. Being constantly pummeled by off-hand references to the hatred of women, the rape of children and the massacre of civilians might someday make for a great comedic film (somehow I doubt it) but this is certainly not the one. It isn't as shocking as it sounds and isn't that funny. You can do without this one. (Unrated version on Dvd, September 16, 2013).