The Dictator

The Dictator: Sacha Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles deliver their first misfire with this uninteresting comedy about a ruthless dictator (Cohen) getting lost in Manhattan, where he falls in love with a hippie (Anna Faris). Unlike the Borat and Bruno films, this one actually has a narrative, and while there are some decent scattered laughs, the overall feeling of the movie is a little too ugly and drab to be recommended. Mind you, I did laugh out loud a couple of times, especially during the dictator’s helicopter tour of Manhattan. And Cohen’s final speech is actually brilliant—a sort of the dark, evil cousin of Chaplin’s speech at the end of The Great Dictator. Still, more jokes fall flat than succeed, and this just feels like a waste of Cohen’s talents. Ultimately, the character is so unlikable it’s just a drag to spend time with him.