bill bodkin and logan j. fowler look at the new sacha baron cohen flick…
Theater, Rent, No Thanks, Undecided? Undecided. I admit, I got a few chuckles when I first saw the trailer for The Dictator. Sacha Baron Cohen is no stranger to shocking comedy, thanks to his turns in Borat and Bruno (the latter which I have not seen), and he can get some guffaws from his audience for sure. However, I feel that Cohen’s systematic shock value movie genre is getting somewhat stale, as while Borat was novel, Bruno turned a lot of people off, and now he’s trying to win them back with this. Personally, I’d rather see Cohen stick to ensemble pieces like how he was in Hugo or Talladega Nights; he showed a lot more range as an actor in those two films, more so then what he continually goes back to. Still, The Dictator may be good for a rental, so we’ll see how I feel when it enters that format in the near future. –LJF
Theater, Rent, No Thanks, Undecided? Rent. The trailers for The Dictator have been amusing. There have been some moments that evoke some chuckles. But frankly, I already know what this movie is going to be like. The main character played by SBC is a mysgonist idiot from another country who arrogantly bumbles his way through life. It’s basically Borat without the innocence. The main character will treat women like garbage, numerous characters will end up in a lot of ‘accidental’ gay sex positions or acts, there will a big poop gag somewhere in the film and in the end there’s idiotic resolution. This is what happened in Borat and Ali G in da House. Can Sacha Baron Cohen seriously stop writing the same movie? We lauded him as a brilliant comic writer and performer years back, now it’s just the same damn movie over and over again.
My verdict of renting The Dictator is not a strong vote of confidence. I am very much on the fence of just leaving this one on the shelf, much like I did with Bruno. For some reason this film, through the trailer, seems to be a little funnier than SBC’s last film, but that’s not saying much. –BB
