[6.25/10] The Dictator (2012)

The Dictator (2012)

Brief review: After the critically acclaimed "Borat" and the somewhat amusing "Bruno", this is the third collaboration between director Larry Charles and comedy star Sascha Baron Cohen, who, of course, also wrote the script for The Dictator". If you liked the previous two Charles / Cohen movies, you'll love with this one as well. It's done in the same idiotic fashion, and it's super-duper-funny for all the wrong reasons. It features tons of racist jokes, gender jokes, terrorist jokes and gross-out gags, and they're all rude and vulgar to the point of outrageous. Larry Charles' direction is kind of all over the place, lacking any cohesion whatsoever, but maybe it's meant to be like that. Who knows? The goldenish tint of the cinematography screams 'oriental', the enjoyable Punjabi music score adds an ironic authenticity to the movie, plus, the production design of the palace in Wadiyan is lavish and gorgeous. Sacha Baron Cohen is an incredible comedian, because he manages to maintain funny pretty much constantly. His character, Admiral General Hafez Aladeen, is silly, crude, lewd, childish and despotic, but still, you can't help but enjoying his crazy persona doing embarrassing stiff. Anna Faris does her thing as usual, delivering an amusing performance as the naive activist, Zoey, and the supporting does a solid job as well, with Jason Mantzoukas and Ben Kingsley being the most memorable.

Overall summary: Much like both, "Borat" and "Bruno", "The Dictator" is embarrassing to watch and at times even crudely brutal, but it's also outrageously hilarious and laugh-out-loud funny, and works despite its offbeat pacing and Larry Charles' wildly incoherent direction.