THE DICTATOR

Hated it. Boring. Wanted to leave the theatre. Joke gets old fast. Anna Faris is wasted and amazingly not funny either.

I admit the 9/11 bit in the helicopter was funny and I enjoyed the anti-democracy rant before he embraces it.

Overall, a big waste of 80 minutes of my time.

Grade - F

At it's best it reminded me of the early Zucker films (it's also as brisk as one coming in at 73 minutes without credits). At it's worst it reminded me of later Zucker. That lands it around the sequel to The Naked Gun. It's funny, I liked it, but it could've been more if the script was a little more fleshed out. It's almost a little too content with how short it is.

*** (B)

Did anyone else notice that Horatio Sanz was only in the movie for one shot? I guess the better question should be, did anyone else notice Horatio Sanz? He's not much of a name anymore now that he's off of SNL, but I expected someone with a recognizable face to be in the film for more than one shot. The film feels like it was chopped to pieces so he was probably in a few scenes that got cut out.

I missed Horatio Sanz. I always thought he was a funny fellow.

Mediocre at best.

Hilarious. Not as smart as Borat (or even as clever as Bruno), but hilarious nonetheless.

Did anyone see the Anchorman 2 trailer?

Yes. It's decent, though more exciting in terms of "ANCHORMAN 2! OH MY GOD!" than in terms of the actual content or lines being particularly interesting or hilarious.

Anywho:

The film has its fair share of big laughs, but it is also thin and a tad uninspired. The character-centric, colorful, to-the-extreme-and-one-step-further humor of his last two films (and the earlier HBO series) is not as exciting, hilarious, and vital this time 'round. In large part because the film does not try hard and is at times downright lethargic. It often plays as a director's cut of the trailers which have been available for months (certain scenes, such as Megan Fox's cameo or the "Olympics" race, almost felt more substantial in those advertisements) rather than a full-fledged motion picture. Cut the end credits, with their bloopers and halfhearted alternate scenes, and there is a 70-minute movie here.

The principal talent seem to believe the switch from Candid Camera style shenanigans to a conventional, three-act form with recognizable co-stars (including Sir Ben Kingsley, given not one interesting moment or line) is no big deal. As a result, they pay almost no mind to character development or storytelling, to the film's detriment.

Which leaves the humor, which, I am relived to report, tends toward the amusing more often than not. Sure, a few bits go too far in terms of vulgarity (one word: childbirth), and a few others grab hold of an interesting idea and stretch it thin to the point of dead air (a long description of a dictatorship which sounds awful similar to American politics and society), but at least 70 percent of the one-liners and comic visuals connect.

C+

Not particularly good, but the helicopter scene is amazing.

It isn't great but this made me laugh a lot.

Meh.

Cohen and Charles never really captured the tone of The Dictator and thus never really captured it's audience - - except, of course, for that deeply, deeply touching love scene at the birth.

However, it is undeniably another triumph for the consummate comic chameleon charms of the "lead" female... Anna Faris is magically delicious in everything she does!!!!! (Can't wait for The Skeleton Twins!)


3 out of 5.


______________________________

Brüno
Borat
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The Dictator

Something about a Jewish guy making fun of Arabs makes me terribly uneasy.

lol the film started off with epic joke after epic joke.

Then by the mid point the jokes starting get to weird and strange and dirty for my liking.

However the helicopter scene was beyond epic.

911 2012!!!

lol

Forgot the film because of what happened latter at night

However found it fun B -

Far too broad, stupid, and unfunny to really make an effective satire. Aladeen's speech about America at the end is far too on-the-nose and thus doesn't work at all, neither as comedy nor social commentary.

Should've just made another mockumentary.

I found it pretty good. The helicopter scene had me in stitches. Anna Faris was enjoyable as usual.

B

The Dictator

That was crap. Just totally unfunny. The jokes can be seen a mile off, the story is complete crap, and it just felt so ... light. Where's the hard core comedy? The risky and controversial stuff? Everything that Sacha Baron Cohen has built up in films such as Borat was lost here.

Edward Norton and Megan Fox were a surprise. But my God, what trash.

D

This was funny, but not too memorable. The birthing scene was gross, and the 911 2012 thing was hilarious. But that's all I really remember apart from the fact be found out Anna Far is was a Jew after they married.

B-