One of the reasons why Larry Charles' Borat (2006) worked so well was that Sacha Baron Cohen was able to travel the United States and react spontaneously with the people he encountered. In his 2012 film The Dictator, he plays Admiral General Haffaz Aladeen, a cruel, petty, maladjusted dictator of the fictional North African nation of Wadiya. You can't play an insane tyrant without the trappings of the office: lavish palaces, an army of guards and extras, and expensive costumes. And herein lies The Dictator's main problem: the increased production values result in a film that lacks the spontaneity of Borat. That's not to say that The Dictator is a failure of a film. Charles' film tracking Aladeen's attempts to regain his office after losing his identity and being forced to work at an alternative lifestyle co-op is shockingly hilarious and even more shockingly offensive. Anna Faris' performance as Zoey, the head of the co-op who falls in love with Aladeen, is one of the best of her career. She also has one of the funniest lines in the movie ("Because I majored in fem lit!"). Some of the comedic bits, especially the ones shared with the exiled ex-head of Wadiya's nuclear program named "Nuclear" Nadal, go on for too long. Did anybody else want that bit near the end with the zip-line to dispense with the shtick and just get on with it? The Dictator delivers the laughs that its concept and lead actor promise. But it also serves as further evidence that Borat was truly a once-in-a-generation film that captured lightning in a bottle. Truly, it can never be replicated.
7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment