Though I'm reasonably ashamed to admit it, I'm a Sacha Baron Cohen fan. Even as disturbingly over-the-top as "Borat" and "Bruno" were, I can't help laughing thinking about them. Even as I'm writing this, I'm suppressing a wicked grin thinking about them.
Cohen's latest film "The Dictator" displays less of over-the-topic reality antics and focus on more of the story. Cohen (who once again serves as writer) plays General Aladeen, the dictator of fictional country Wadiyah. Aladeen has been planning a nuclear strike on America, but refuses to let the UN search his country for weapons of mass destruction. In an attempt to shut them up, Aladeen visits America where he plans to plan a giant "fuck you" on the UN. However, the plan goes awry when a Secret Service agent (played by John C. Reilly) with his own agenda captures Aladeen, cuts off his "sacred beard", and, after a botched assassination attempt, allows Aladeen to escape to the streets of New York City to fend for himself. Through connections made by a former political aide and a friendship with a vegan store clerk (Anna Faris), Aladeen plots to get back in the public eye before he loses his country to democracy.
Director Larry Charles (co-producer of "Seinfeld") and Cohen tone down the more subversive elements to "Bruno" and "Borat", such as the male frontal nudity and homosexual sex to bring a hilarious story of political mishaps to light. Focusing more on the story rather than pissing off unassuming Americans with reality-based toilet humor is what makes this film Cohen's best yet. Add in performances from Sir Ben Kingsley and Jason Mantzoukas (TV's "The League"), as well as a slew of celebrity cameos, and you get a delirious comedy you should be ashamed of laughing at, but, by the end, you just don't care.
MY TWO CENTS: "The Dictator" may be Sacha Baron Cohen-lite, but that's the ironic beauty of the film. It's about time someone in Hollywood realized less is more.
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