The dictator (2012)

When your signature is pretending to be an outrageous foreigner and recording people saying politically incorrect things, there are only so many films you can make before, when encountering an outrageous foreigner and a camera crew, people start to think that maybe they are being filmed. It seems that Sacha Baron Cohen realised this, and decided to start making more scripted films instead.

The dictator is an okay film. There are some funny moments, but a lot of the jokes cover the same tired material, and knowing that this is scripted rather than the genuine reaction of some unsuspecting bystander makes them land a little less well. There’s a little too much cringe comedy and a few too many armpit jokes for me to want to label this a comedy classic.

I’m not sure when i’d recommend people watch it. If a Sacha Baron Cohen film is what’s in order, there are better ones to choose. If a comedy is what’s in order, there are better ones to choose. There’s no big reason to avoid the dictator, but there’s also no real reason to seek it out, either.