THE DICTATOR

THE DICTATOR

Fascist Funnies

Directed by Larry Charles
Starring Sascha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley. Jason Mantzoukas

Opening with a dedication to the memory of Kim Jong Il, this latest effort by Sascha Baron Cohen and constant collaborator Larry Charles – their first to eschew the mockumentary format in a while – let’s you know straight out of the gate what to expect. Yes, this is Cohen’s take on political satire, but it still relies on the shock and vulgarity that has sustained his career thus far. And that’s a good thing.

Cohen plays General Admiral Haffaz Aladeen, dictator of the fictional North African nation of Wadiya, who finds himself penniless on the streets of New York after a coup involving an imbecilic lookalike, orchestrated by his treacherous uncle and advisor, Tamir (Ben Kingsley – probably should have seen that coming).

Ill-equipped for pretty much anything after a lifetime of sheltered privilege and absolute power, Aladeen nonetheless resolves to seize power again, with the help of both Nadal (Jason Mantzoukas), an exiled Wadiyan nuclear scientist, and Zoey (Anna Faris), a kind of catch-all feminist/environmentalist/activist who believes that Aladeen is a political refugee.

Cohen plays Aladeen as a kind of idiotic innocent, somewhat reminiscent of some of Adam Sandler’s early roles in Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore, and his monstrosity – he does, after all, order executions at the drop of a hat and for the slightest infractions – is leavened by what we see is a deep well of loneliness and an almost complete alienation from any kind of broad worldview. This is handled inconsistently, though; at one point we’re told that everyone Aladeen ever ordered killed was simply exiled to the US instead, which lets him off the hook somewhat, but in another scene he jokes about raping the members of Menudo. In Cohen and Charles’ quest for whatever is funny and shocking in the moment, they tend to lose sight of their characters.

It’s this scattershot approach that also undermines the film thematically. Cohen and Charles clearly want to take a swing at every pundit across the political spectrum, from far-right dictators to idealistic protestors to opportunistic arch-capitalists, and a lot of the time this leads them to reach for the low-hanging fruit, dealing in broad stereotypes rather than skewering deserving targets. Some specificity would have gone a long way to giving the film some actual political oomph; as it stands, it’s just a bull in a china shop.

It is funny, though, and that’s the true test of a comedy. Although the gross-out humour has been toned down somewhat this time around, there’s still enough to elicit the odd shocked gasp from the audience, and a handful of game celebrity cameos – John C. Reilly, Megan Fox, Edward Norton – show that Cohen still has some esteem around the Hollywood traps. But while the laughs are plentiful, you can’t help but notice a lack of actual intent at the core of the proceedings. Cohen’s made a career out of holding up a mirror to contemporary culture, but it’d be nice for him to say what he thinks, just for once.

_TRAVIS JOHNSON