The Dictator (2012)
Brief review: After the critically acclaimed "Borat" and the somewhat amusing "Bruno", this is the third collaboration between director Larry Charles and comedy star Sascha Baron Cohen, who, of course, also wrote the script for The Dictator". If you liked the previous two Charles / Cohen movies, you'll love with this one as well. It's done in the same idiotic fashion, and it's super-duper-funny for all the wrong reasons. It features tons of racist jokes, gender jokes, terrorist jokes and gross-out gags, and they're all rude and vulgar to the point of outrageous. Larry Charles' direction is kind of all over the place, lacking any cohesion whatsoever, but maybe it's meant to be like that. Who knows? The goldenish tint of the cinematography screams 'oriental', the enjoyable Punjabi music score adds an ironic authenticity to the movie, plus, the production design of the palace in Wadiyan is lavish and gorgeous. Sacha Baron Cohen is an incredible comedian, because he manages to maintain funny pretty much constantly. His character, Admiral General Hafez Aladeen, is silly, crude, lewd, childish and despotic, but still, you can't help but enjoying his crazy persona doing embarrassing stiff. Anna Faris does her thing as usual, delivering an amusing performance as the naive activist, Zoey, and the supporting does a solid job as well, with Jason Mantzoukas and Ben Kingsley being the most memorable.
10 comments:
Nice review of the movie, George.
I have voiced similar thoughts in my review .
Cheers!
buddy2blogger, thank you so much. Glad we're on the same page regarding this one.
Just checked out your review and it's awesome. :)
Thanks for the comment.
I know I'm in the minority but I've just never found him funny. He can act though - proved that in Hugo and I understand he's in Les Miserables later this year.
Alex, seriously? I think he;s one of the funniest comedians out there. He knows how to make people laugh, that's for sure.
Yep, I agree, and I can't to see him in a more dramatic role.
Awesome review that totally sums up the whole Cohen-Charles film making team. I loved Borat, was rather meh about Bruno, but this looks hilarious. My nephew is dying to see this, but I don't as he could handle some of the humor, he's thirteen. I, myself, love shock humor on occasion. It's so wrong, but it's funny. ;)
Thanks, sweetheart.
I loved Borat and I somewhat enjoyed Bruno. Dictator falls somewhere in between.
13? He shouldn't watch it then. It's way too vulgar for a 13 year old boy.
I do too. Sometimes wrong feels right. :)
George, I'll never see this film 'cuz it's not my style of humor. That said, the Punjabi style Jay Z music from the trailer always gets me going.
- Maurice Mitchell
The Geek Twins | Film Sketchr
@thegeektwins | @mauricem1972
Maurice, if didn't like the humor in Borat and Bruno, you wouldn't enjoy this one as well. The music score was great, I loved it.
I'm not a big fan of Cohen. Borat was quite enjoyable, but I thought that Ali G Indahouse and Bruno were immensely unfunny. Not interested in watching the Dictator.
It's your choice, Maynard. You're missing lots of laughs, that's for sure.
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