Lucien, Cameras, Action!

The Dictator, Sacha Baron Cohen’s first foray into a narrative fictional comedy, tackles politics in his typical bawdy, over-the-top style of satire. Essentially a romantic comedy in structure, with moments of absurdity as Baron Cohen continues to push the bill of acceptable comedy, while tackling our own political structure with an often gleeful, satirical irreverence.

Sacha Baron Cohen is an acquired taste, as, with any comic, his specific brand of humor isn’t for everybody. This no doubt applies to The Dictator, Baron Cohen’s latest addition to his incendiary, often graphic slew of comic characters, such as Borat, Bruno and Ali G, this time playing Admiral General Aladeen, dictator of the fictional north African country Wadiya.

Ruthless ruler Aladeen (Baron Cohen) is summoned to New York City to testify to the United Nations after rumors Wadiya is attempting to enrich uranium. Agreeing to go after the encouragement of his trusted advisor Tamir (Ben Kingsley), Aladeen is kidnapped in New York, his iconic beard is cut off, and he is soon replaced by a double before testifying to the UN. Thus the plot of The Dictator becomes a rather run-of-the-mill mistaken identity story, as Aladeen must survive the streets of New York City, as he teams up with a Zoey (Anna Faris), an activist who believes Aladeen is a Wadiyan refugee.

Baron Cohen struggles with telling a wholly fictional, scripted story. The Dictator does offer up a lot of laughs and some extremely ballsy political commentary, as the film takes jabs at the whole political, social spectrum. Not all of the humor works, however, as the film is a rough-going in between the more sketch-style of comedy that redeems the film.

Where the sketch-style comedy comes in is in the broad range of comedic approaches the film takes. There are many bawdy moments to be had, including a rather disturbing birthing scene. There are moments of racial and social comedy that is certainly not accepted in typical conversation, but in Baron Cohen’s delivery is often uncomfortably hilarious. It is the political commentary, however, that works the most here. The Dictator takes jabs at the entire political, social spectrum with a keen eye and wit that offer up the most laughs of all.

Featuring many supporting characters and cameos, the talent here is as willing to poke fun at themselves as they are others, which is a refreshing approach to comedy. The issue here is in the considerable amount of time spent in between these moments of hilarity, which attempts to move along a story that isn’t nearly as revolutionary as Baron Cohen’s usual brand of comedy.

The Dictator fires at half-capacity, with an unimpressive story and its share of comedic misses, when the film works, it works marvelously. As a political satire, Baron Cohen highlights the faults in society he sees by bringing them to light in the most extreme, uncomfortable fashion. While this brand of comedy will no doubt keep a large number of audience members at arms length, it is worth sifting through the film’s failures to experience what it’s like to witness Sacha Baron Cohen work his comedic magic.

Grade: B-

Rated: R (for strong crude and sexual content, brief male nudity, language and some violent images.)