658. The Dictator (2012)

Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, John C. Reilly

Director: Larry Charles

Running Time: 83 mins

The Dictator is an American film about ruthless dictator General Aladeen of The Republic of Wadiya who is called to New York to address the U.N. amidst fears that his nation is developing nuclear weapons, however various hijinks give the trip a turn for the worse.

Well, with my verdict on Ali G being so negative, I didn’t expect much from this film. Borat remains the exception to the ongoing list of appallingly boring and unfunny Sacha Baron Cohen films, while this fits perfectly into that saga.

I’ll admit that, going into this film, I thought that the premise was quite exciting. While Ali G was lacking a great deal of satire, this had a concept that had the opportunity to take the mick out of the ongoing Middle East crisis that’s so prevalent nowadays.

However, that degree of satire (which is about the only funny thing in the entire film) is so time-specific that it’s going to be completely dated within 10 years. So, you would expect that, in order to not have such a near expiry date, the writers of this film would have come up with some genuinely funny comedy and slapstick.

And while this film was full of slapstick, some of it mildly funny, the rest of the comedy was absolutely appalling. Including, but not limited to, such genres as toilet humour, there was nothing to laugh at.

But with a simply unfunny film, it’s only boring, but some of the horrific jokes in this film turn it into a terribly frustrating watch, especially with some of the more explicit scenes that are not at all funny, but nothing more than obscene, which pretty much sums up the entire film, so that’s why it gets a 3.8.