Director: Larry Charles
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kingsley, John C. Reilly, Anna Faris, Jason Mantzoukas
Running Time: 94 minutes
Certificate: 15
Extras: Deleted and Extended Scenes, MUSIC VIDEO – Best Love Song “Your Money Is On The Dresser”, Larry King Interview
A prominent trait of Sacha Baron Cohen’s feature films is their merciless in-character marketing. THE DICTATOR is no different, as Cohen appeared as General Aladeen on numerous occasions – the undoubted highlight the dousing of Ryan Seacrest in Kim Jong-Il’s ‘ashes’ at the Oscars – and whilst this worked for BORAT and BRUNO it only succeeded in making THE DICTATOR tiresome even before its release. Now it arrives on Blu-ray and DVD with a new extended cut, but can it measure up to his previous efforts?
General Aladeen (Cohen) is a ruthless dictator (in the pre-credits we are informed the film is dedicated to Kim Jong-Il) who will stop at nothing to ensure democracy never comes to his homeland of Wadiya. Scheduled to appear at the UN summit Aladeen is kidnapped by Clayton (Reilly) as Tamir (Kinglsey) puts in place a double to sign a constitution declaring Wadiya a democratic state. Hilarity should really ensue, only it doesn’t, and in truth never really threatens to.
The problems with THE DICTATOR are all humour related: it is borderline racist at times (attempting a similar approach to BORAT, only without the innocence), and it just seems everyone is trying a little too hard. Writing your first standalone feature can’t be an easy task, however Cohen, along with Alec Berg, David Mandell, and Jeff Schaffer make a right mess of the script, missing the most integral component of any comedy – funny jokes. Admittedly there are a few chuckles to be had – the helicopter trip from the trailer still raises a laugh – but they are too few and far between to make THE DICTATOR worthy of film. ALI G is an example of how to move a character from the small screen to the big in a horrible way, the general feel of THE DICTATOR is it would work a whole lot better if it were moved in the opposite direction.
The film does have plusses: it is enjoyable enough, and the ending, whilst predictable, is satisfying thanks to Cohen’s political speech (more of which could have benefited the film). And one thing that can’t be denied is just how funny Anna Faris is – hell, she made SCARY MOVIE and SCARY MOVIE 2 tolerable, but even she struggles with the gags, or lack thereof. A misshit from Cohen and his team, but they will have learnt a lot.
Extras: The deleted scenes are OK, but are not missed, whilst the music video and Larry King interview are a bit of fun.
THE DICTATOR is available on Blu-ray and DVD September 24th here
