MOVIE REVIEW - The Dictator

Sacha Baron Cohen is back with his latest completely incorrect comedy, The Dictator.

The Dictator is Cohen doing what he does best. After he gave us Borat a few years ago, we were all introduced to a new way of doing comedy. Even if you hated Borat, you did have to give him kudos for the originality of the whole process. It was mean spirited, and politically incorrect in every way, and some of it was hard not to laugh at even if you didn't want to. But The Dictator is none of that, except for mean spirited which it certainly is.

This is Cohen playing a fictional Middle Eastern dictator from an equally fictitious North African nation. He and his nation are trying to develop a nuclear bomb, and the world is taking notice. The United Nation says that if he doesn't come to the UN and address the General Assembly, they will begin military action against his nation. So he comes to America to do so. He is then captured by the CIA, and shaved of his trademark beard, only to escape in New York City. No one recognizes him and he has to make it on his own, while members of his own nation are scheming behind his back to make his nation a democracy.

Does that sound funny? Well, no. And most of this is not. Must be noted, if you are easily offended by pretty much anything, do not go to this movie. The Dictator is total over the top parody of virtually everything on earth. Almost no race, nationality, gender, or political entity is spared. This is way over the line in many areas. But to be fair, there will be an audience for this that will love it. But it is limited. Some of this stuff is so juvenile, and most of it is so Junior High, it's amazing that a grown man is behind it all.

There is an attempted message here, and there are a few moments of guilty pleasure laughs and and there is an eyebrow raiser or two. But much of this is just too far gone. I'm not so sure that most are ready to joke about September 11 in movie form yet. A parody on terrorism is going to leave many deeply offended, regardless of the eventual attempted message. There is some really good political humor in this at times, and some cutting dialogue that is well thought out and more than honest. But there is simply too much other childish, grosser than gross stuff that brings it down too far.

I saw that some major Hollywood critics have praised this movie greatly, even calling Cohen amazingly talented and Hollywood's best comedic film maker. No one can disagree he is risk taking, and original, but that isn't always synonymous with being good. I would suggest to you that critics of fame that would heap that kind of praise on Cohen are desperately attempting to connect with very young movie goers and not be labeled as "out of touch" or old. Let's get a grip on this.

No one minds cutting edge, or envelope pushing. But there has to be some bar height of some kind. Constantly cowering to the lowest common denominator with 7th grade bathroom humor is not original or cutting edge. It's easy old and tired.

The Dictator. Even though the script and story may be Cohen's best in theory, it still sells out to gross out, and offensive tactics that hold it back.