The Dictator suffers from a crazy case of multiple personality disorder.
On one hand, it can be quite smart—as its fast-paced subtle political humor flies over the heads of most the audience not as involved in the world of American elections—and has a funny yet feasible evil plot that loosely imitates real world activities. Basically involves a secretly overthrown dictator trying to win back the crown before an imposter totally changes the government of the oppressed country involves. And just wait until you see the sharp double-sided slap in the face to American politics.
On the other hand, it can be quite stupid with some crazy and sometimes utterly random humor—and some of it will definitely make you cringe.
On one hand, the movie has a bit of tenderness and heart that you just won’t find in Cohen’s previous works that victimize celebrities and practically anyone in his wrath. The story has some structure and even has a mild dosage of catharsis.
On the other hand, we still have the same unstructured crude humor that put Cohen and Larry Charles (The director) on the map with some sequences that range from bizarre to downright hilarious. If you couldn’t survive the nature of Borat and Bruno, then you’ll probably have trouble with this film as well.
So on one hand, The Dictator fails to truly shine as a comedic gem in the way Borat delivered years ago because it was usually too smart for its crude humor, while sometimes being too crude and lowbrow to be spitting some political commentary in subtle and unsubtle manners.
But on the other hand, it’s Sasha Baron Cohen and he will carry this picture and deliver laughs by any means necessary, and I mean ANY means necessary. Cohen is like Jim Carrey in the 90s—flippin’ crazy, risking plenty to entertain, and yet in the midst of the insanity carries enough heart and soul to make you truly care and root for the protagonist every time. The Dictator is Cohen’s movie, and he pulls off an excellent performance that allows you to merge past the film’s flaws ranging from the inconsistency to the rushed muddled ending.
So if you are searching for a good time, then The Dictator will provide, granted you can tolerate its incessant range of humor and timing of said humor. The Dictator aims very high and very low; which will result in you laughing, nervously chucking, cringing, and during some of the better segments nearly in tears.
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