In 1940, Charles Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” took a satirical look at Adolf Hitler that is still considered to be one of his greatest films. 72 years later we now have one for Saddam Hussein, “The Dictator” directed by Larry Charles (“Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” “Brüno”) marks the third collaboration with producer/writer/actor Sacha Baron Cohen. The ridiculous over the top humor reaches a new high (as is the trend with these films) but not in the usual way of being overly sexual.
Cohen plays General Aladeen, a fearlessly hilarious and dimwitted dictator who is replaced by his “villainous” uncle Tamir (Ben Kingsley) who hires a hit man (John C. Reilly) to shave his notoriously characteristic beard and leave him to fend for himself in New York City. Replaced by a decoy (also played by Cohen) and now unrecognizable, Aladeen meets Zoey (Anna Faris) who is an activist with a position for him at her co-op. With the help of his friend Nadal (played hilariously by Jason Mantzoukas), they try to make it back into the UN delegation to keep democracy out of his native Wadiya.
The major difference with this film and the other two mentioned is that it actually has a story line as opposed to skits performed around unsuspecting people. It has hysterical social and political satire that doesn’t leave a dull moment in its short duration. “The Dictator” is fun without too much gross humor relied on heavily in the other films of Baron Cohen. The film still is very much rated R, however, with still lots of material to make it so.
The film also has appearances by Bobby Lee and Chris Parnell with cameos by Megan Fox and an even greater one by Edward Norton. Out of the three films discussed, “The Dictator” has potential of being the best one – being a close call with “Borat.” With the weird public appearances by Cohen in character as General Aladeen and the collective ridiculousness of the other two films – Cohen redeems himself with this one.
“The Dictator” is out now in theaters.
