The Dictator -
(May 16th, 2012): R
Distributor: Paramount
Pictures
Opening Weekend Box Office:
#3 with $17,435,092
Domestic Box Office
Gross to-date: $26,633,538
Gross Revenue: $56,933,538
Production Budget:
$65 million
Director: Larry Charles
Now, dictatorial regimes and
terrorism might not strike you as the most easily accessible material for a
comedy, but in all honesty, is there any part of you that thought such a fact
would stop Sacha Baron Cohen? Early
trailers certainly sent buzz through the roof, especially after the creative
way in which archived footage featuring President Obama and Secretary of State
Clinton was used to introduce the character of Admiral General Aladeen. Admittedly, I do think that Cohen slightly
overplayed his hand at the 84th Academy Awards when he spilled an
urn supposedly filled with the ashes of Kim Jong-il on Ryan Seacrest; the
ill-conceived stunt may have been a little tasteless, but at least it got
people talking. Personally, I was most
curious about the fact that acting icon Sir Ben Kingsley had a role in this irreverent
comedy…sure, the inclusion of names like Anna Farris, J.B. Smoove, and John C.
Reilly made sense, but c’mon, the guy who won an Oscar for portraying Mohandas
Gandhi? Sure, backlash from lukewarm
reaction to Brüno and this newest
comedy’s R-rating didn’t exactly guarantee a strong influence on the box
office, but the trailers were funny enough that my hopes remained high.
The
Dictator opens with an introduction to the fictional North African Republic
of Wadiya, which has been ruled with an iron fist for the past forty years by
the anti-western despot, Admiral General Hafez Aladeen (Sacha Baron Cohen), who
is currently obsessed with developing nuclear weapons. After the U.N. Security Council threatens
intervention, Aladeen reluctantly agrees to address the council in New York
City, but soon after arriving, Aladeen is kidnapped by a government agent known
only as Clayton (John C. Reilly). It is
revealed that Clayton was hired by Aladeen’s uncle, Tamir (Ben Kingsley), so
that the despot could be replaced by a political decoy, one that can be
manipulated into democratizing Wadiya and monetizing the country’s oil
fields. Aladeen escapes imprisonment,
but his beard is shaved off and he is left virtually unrecognizable to his
security team; encountering an offbeat political activist, Zoey (Anna Faris),
Aladeen adopts a fictional identity and begins working at Zoey’s organic
produce shop. When he learns of Wadiya’s
impending democratization, Aladeen enlists the help of a Wadiyan political
refugee, Nadal (Jason Mantzoukas), so that he might be reinstated into power
and keep his autocratic legacy alive.
In regards to sheer shock value,
offensive material, and overall levels of hilarity, Cohen’s previous shining star,
Borat, could be rated PG by
comparison. As the narrative continues
on, just when you think that Cohen couldn’t push the envelope even further, he
delivers another joke or scenario that will leave you shocked to the core;
granted, you’ll be laughing, but still, you will be shocked. In Brüno,
Cohen relied almost solely on gross-out sight gags, and while there are certain
instances of that within The Dictator,
the gross-out factor has been toned down and substituted with merciless satire,
which, more often than not, is handled in a rather clever matter…no wonder the
film has been banned in several Middle Eastern countries. The main focus on the movie may be Cohen
himself, but when it comes to the supporting cast, Anna Faris is the most
welcome addition, using her wide-eyed bewilderment as the perfect foil to the
leading man’s insanity. Bottom line, The Dictator is so funny that, even
though you can never repeat some of the lines loudly in public, you will still
be tempted to see the movie repeatedly so that you can still quote among your
friends for years to come.
Now, the primary reason that The Dictator failed to achieve my
highest recommendation is that the film is far too offensive to ever be
classified as a mass-appeal comedy, but I do have to admit that it takes a
little too long for the narrative to build momentum and that a number of the
jokes fall completely flat. The film may
have a running time of only around eighty minutes, and though that is enough
time to get the story done, it does serve to accentuate the fact that it takes
almost twenty minutes for the comedic formula to truly start thriving. Though there are a few truly great moments
during the first act of the film, which focuses on Aladeen’s oppressive rule,
the true laughs don’t take off until Aladeen comes to New York and is
kidnapped, and that lull can alienate audiences with shortened attention
spans. I also cannot ignore the fact
that there are a few jokes that fail completely and that the cast tries far too
hard to resuscitate in vain, but the saving grace is that you are never too far
from a truly unforgettable scene. So,
make no mistake, there are definite shortcomings to The Dictator, but I maintain that, unless you are a complete prude,
you can find something that will appeal to your depraved sense of humor.
With a sub-par opening of $17
million, it seems that audiences are still unable to forget or look past the decidedly
disappointing Brüno, but upon
considering other variables, it isn’t time to write-off The Dictator quite yet. An
R-rated comedy will always have trouble drawing big numbers, simply because the
potential audience is already reduced, and it certainly doesn’t help that this
comedy was trying to draw viewers away from the cinematic phenomenon that is The Avengers. I can only hope that word of mouth works to The Dictator’s advantage, and the
reality is that no direct competition will hit theaters until That’s My Boy in mid-June…and we all
know that Adam Sandler’s latest cinematic failure will go down in flames. Foreign numbers are solid, so it looks like
Paramount has little to worry about, especially against a $65 million
production budget. Needless to say, my
faith in Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedic talent has been restored and I really hope
that this offbeat comedy continues to build momentum.
Overall Recommendation: High
