Saw The Dictator on Friday

The Dictator is a comedy about a dictator of an oil-rich African country who comes to New York to give a speech before the United Nations. However, his brother tries to have him killed and put a puppet body-double in his place. The plot to kill the dictator only goes as far as shaving off his beard before he escapes. However, without his beard nobody believes who he is. So, he ends up befriending a politically left-wing gal who runs an organic food store in Brooklyn. That gets you about half way through the money, I won't blow the second half.

The point of the movie is not the plot. How funny was it? In my opinion, not very. Sasha Baron Cohen is a master at improvisational comedy, as evidenced in Borat and the Ali G show. Now that his is famous, he can't get away with interacting with strangers, because we all know who he is. So, unlike Borat, and Bruno somewhat, the Dictator seemed scripted and all the characters paid actors. Sorry, but he just isn't that funny with that kind of comedy.

As much as I like Sasha Baron Cohen, I gotta give The Dictator a solid thumbs down. On my 0 to 10 scale I give The Dictator a 3.

Haven't seen it, but from the preview that
I did see, it looked pretty lame. So I'm
not surprised with a 3 out of 10.

Could someone explain how The Dictator is listed at a $65 million production budget (boxofficmojo.com)? The only thing I imagine could drive it up so high is if they guaranteed Sacha Baron Cohen a very, very large amount of money.

For a moment I thought the post was about Chaplin's "The Great Dictator."

Quote: ahiromu

Could someone explain how The Dictator is listed at a $65 million production budget

I should have commented that the movie came off as very low budget and done in a hurry. There was also no chemistry between the characters. The actors, especially Ben Kingsly, seemed to be suffering through the whole thing. The actress who played the love interest seemed to try her best, but I think she took the roll too seriously. There were some funny moments here and there, but overall I would call the movie a near disaster.

Borat was a 3 out of 10. Scatological jokes
and low grade hooker and penis humor just
doesn't do it for me.

I'd say BORAT was an 8 out of 10 based on
numerous laugh out loud scenes, and on
originality.

But certainly not everyone's cup of tea !

Thanks for the review. That is too bad, I was planning to see it based on Borat and Bruno (one of the FUNNIEST and most UNDERRATED comedies in my opinion), but it doesn't sound like he hit the mark this time.

I can't remember the last time I saw a good film. All the superhero crap . . .

Quote: teddys

Thanks for the review. That is too bad, I was planning to see it based on Borat and Bruno (one of the FUNNIEST and most UNDERRATED comedies in my opinion), but it doesn't sound like he hit the mark this time.

If you liked Bruno then you might like The Dictator as well. In my opinion, they were about equally as bad. That is to say, I didn't like Bruno either.

Much of the movie was pretty weak, but you have to admit, the helicopter seen was hilarious.

Also, his acting in Hugo wasn't bad.