Returning to the fully fictional comedy for the first time since 2002’s lacklustre Ali G Indahouse, Sacha Baron Cohen proves that as well as being a master of the gonzo style that made Borat such a massive hit, he’s capable of an offensive and often hilarious satire without accosting the general public.
The plot, written by Cohen and a trio of Seinfeld/Curb Your Enthusiasm veterans, follows Admiral General Aladeen, the dictator of fictional North African country Wadiya, as he arrives in America to explain his nuclear weapons to the UN. Whilst there, Aladeen is double crossed by his aide (Ben Kinglsey) and replaced by an idiotic double (Cohen again) who is set to sign a democratic constitution.
Stripped of his trademark beard and left alone on the streets of New York, Aladeen befriends Zoey (Anna Faris), a sincere hippie activist who gives him a job in her world food store. Aladeen teams with Nadal (Jason Mantzoukas), a Wadiyan he thought he had executed, to use Zoey to infiltrate the hotel the fake dictator is staying in and stop the signing of the new constitution.
Of course in a film like this, the plot is just there to hold together the gags and Cohen doesn’t hold back, throwing an offensive barrage of politically incorrect and scatological humour at the screen and seeing what sticks. For every piece of sharp satire (Aladeen’s final speech on the pros and cons of dictatorship will sound awfully familiar to most Americans), there are ten filthy gags involving any bodily fluid you can think of. It doesn’t end there; Cohen also wrings laughs from such risqué topics as child molestation, rape and murdering Jews via his very own Wii game that recreates the Munich Olympics.
Crucially though, however offensive they may be, most of the jokes hit the mark. While the film lacks the unpredictable nature and improvisational edge of some of Cohen’s other work, large portions of The Dictator are still very, very funny with running jokes including Aladeen’s insistence on changing numerous words to ‘Aladeen’ (including ‘positive’ and ‘negative’, leading to some HIV-related confusion…) and the fate that befalls Wadiyans that Aladeen has ‘executed’. There are also some satisfying celebrity cameos, chief amongst them being Megan Fox playing herself as a high-class call girl, happy to bed the world’s richest men but unwilling to stick around for cuddles afterwards.
It might not win him any new fans but Cohen lovers and gross out enthusiasts will no doubt be more than satisfied with his latest offering. Its mix of crude humour and satirical wit offers up enough laughs and Cohen’s performance as Aladeen is as pitch perfect as you would expect. Anna Faris is a game foil as always but her character is there only to provide the perfunctory romance angle that feels entirely unnecessary in a film like this. Still, at a mere 83 minutes this is a quick slice of rude hilarity that never outstays its welcome.
