THE DICTATOR (Larry Charles). 84 minutes. Now playing. For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNN
The Dictator’s a good illustration of comedy equalling tragedy plus time.
With the recent passing of tyrants Saddam, Kim Jong-Il and Gaddafi, messianic, out-of-touch dictators suddenly seem ripe for spoofing. And who better to take them on than chameleon comic Sacha Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles, who tested the limits of good taste and political incorrectness in Borat and Brüno?
Unlike those other two films, this one doesn’t rely on hijacking ordinary people shock-doc fashion. But that’s in keeping with the main character, His Excellency Admiral General Aladeen, an über-controlling villain from the fictional country of Wadiya who murders everyone who disagrees with him.
When he escapes an assassination plot engineered by his right-hand man, Tamir (Ben Kingsley), Aladeen goes undercover in a Brooklyn health food co-op run by radical lefty Zoey (Anna Faris) and hooks up with his regime’s former nuclear engineer (terrific comic discovery Jason Mantzoukas) to get back in power. Meanwhile, Tamir’s hired a dim body double (also Cohen) to take the leader’s place.
There’s a lot of plot to get through, and the writers concoct an endless stream of jokes – some of which work while others fall flat.
The scenes at the touchy-feely co-op are brilliant, made all the funnier because Faris plays her character entirely straight. And like Borat, there’s a sweetness about Aladeen’s sexual and emotional awakening that makes him likeable despite his insane views.
Best of all is his scathing monologue near the end comparing the U.S. to a dictatorship, proving that even silly comedy can be dead serious.
