Many critics and film aficionados have likened Sacha Baron Cohen to the great Peter Sellers, a comic genius known for his staggering slapstick, limitless impressions and impersonations and incredible dedication to his craft. Baron Cohen isn't much different. He inhabits his characters completely, and manages to shock and allure his audience with nearly every film he's in. But like Peter Sellers, not every film he works on is a masterpiece. And for every two or three masterworks, there's a dud.
That's not uncommon for comedians. Not every gag will work with a wide audience. And sometimes a joke, or set of jokes, just bombs. Such is The Dictator, a messy film layered with sight gags, pop culture humor and thin jokes that feel insulting, pandering and curiously irrelevant.
This is Baron Cohen's third team-up with director Larry Charles, and the pairing is starting to show some wear and tear. The film never seems to know what it wants to be, juggling back and forth between a more traditional (and downright terrible) “fish out of water” tale with the usual documentary-style antics that made Borat a big hit back in 2006 (yes, it's been that long). Larry Charles seems married to the idea of shooting his films a certain way, and the end results are often bland and cheap, drawn to the surface by the film's more traditional framework.
Sacha Baron Cohen is also a little weak here. He seems less invested in the character this time around, and mostly ends up recycling gags from Borat, Bruno and Ali G. Most of the time he resorts to name-calling and offensive stereotypes to drive the humor, all thinly painted under a veil of righteous social commentary. But you can only take things so far. Pouring a glass of urine on the Israeli prime minister, for example, is funny on a very shallow level, but it's also treacherously offensive and stupid for the sake of being stupid.
Pushing the boundaries is what Baron Cohen is known for, of course, but it seems like he's going out of his way to piss off as many people as he can, while delivering only a thin coat of laughs along the way. The film is poorly made, with obvious green screen shots and a slapped-together, sloppy plot fit for an Adam Sandler flick (Jack and Jill kept coming to mind throughout the film). The documentary-style footage doesn't sit well with the traditional narrative, and most of the humor isn't nearly as stinging or sharp as Borat, or even Bruno.
The only saving grace here is Anna Faris, who perfectly embodies the role of Zoey, a hippie girl, and owner of a New York co-op, who inexplicably falls in love with Baron Cohen's hate machine, Admiral General Aladeen. While the nature of their relationship isn't believable in the slightest, Faris gets the best gags and often steals the show away from Sacha Baron Cohen when she's on screen. In a very dark and dreary film, she's its saving grace.
The Dictator feels like a film Sacha Baron Cohen was forced to make. It doesn't have the passion of Ali G or Borat, or the sharp eye for social commentary that's made his earlier efforts so charming, even when they're crass as hell. The film feels like everyone is simply winging it, throwing out entire chunks of improv, with almost no guidance whatsoever. While The Dictator is certain to have an audience who loves and adores it, it just isn't as solid as Sacha Baron Cohen's previous efforts. But don't count the comic genius out just yet. Not every film has to be a masterpiece, and sometimes a misfire is exactly what's needed to bring things back on track.
The Dictator: Banned and Unrated edition arrives on Blu-ray presented in 1.78:1 widescreen, encoded in 1080p/AVC and mixed in 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. As noted above, The Dictator is shot almost like a video documentary, even when the film doesn't call for it. As such, the image never quite feels like film. This is further hindered by obvious inconsistencies in the video quality, sometimes wavering between shots (this is more evident in the unrated version). The image is solid overall, and the encode rarely exhibits any major flaws or intrusive distractions, but the cinematography leaves much to be desired.
Audio is generally pretty engaging, though hardly reference quality. The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is atmospheric at times, and dialogue is clean and without distortion. Bass is a tad subdued, but mixing is immersive, with the film's awesome soundtrack filling the surrounds.
Extras are a bit on the thin side. The biggest goodie is the “unrated” cut of the film, which extends The Dictator by about 15 minutes. To be frank, it's terrible. The added padding amounts to lingering scenes, dull additions and a completely stupid “breast fight” sequence that sounds cooler than it really is. It's also highly derivative of the “naked fight” from Borat. The much tighter, concise theatrical cut is simply a better version of the movie, albeit only by a fraction. If nothing else, it's shorter, which is a good thing in this case.
The rest of the goodies consist of about 35 minutes of deleted/extended material, an interview with Larry King and a music video. The Blu-ray also includes a DVD, Digital Copy and UltraViolet copy of the film. Unfortunately, no commentary or picture-in-picture features are provided. That PiP feature on Bruno was absolutely fantastic – almost better than the film itself. It's a shame that same idea wasn't employed here.
The Dictator is a misfire. It has a few funny moments every now and then, but it's generally a lifeless comedy that recycles gags and offensive humor we've seen before. The film just doesn't have much to say and feels slapped together like a schmaltzy Sandler flick. That said, The Dictator is worth a rental. While it may not be Sacha Baron Cohen's best, it might just tickle your funny bone.
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Source : ign[dot]com
