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The Dictator
2012
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The Dictator
Positive Reviews
87
Negative reviews
31
Average Rating
3.0
/5
amazing
outrageous
uncomfortable
american
conventional
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Positive
Negative
3.0
Though Duck Soup has a comics contempt for authority and offers some barbs on the collective madness of nationalism, its less a satire than another pr ..
Av Club
4.5
Brno was a case of diminishing returns, intermittently amusing but not nearly as bracing or funny as Boratit didnt help that Brno was the most thinly ..
Av Club
3.0
Baron Cohens demonstrations of political outrageousness feel all too canned, planned, and defanged.
EW
3.8
Compared to the gleeful transgressions of Borat and Bruno, this is Cohens most conventional film.It has a plot, it has a romance, it sticks to the sto ..
Rogerebert
3.5
But its too funny to play like a blatant insult.Charles unassuming direction yields the look of a brightly lit action comedy with a side dish of unlik ..
Indie Wire
3.0
But for all the issues with story and the silly jokes, what The Dictator proves above all else, is that Cohen is the single most fearless actor workin ..
We Got This Covered
1.5
Maybe its just reflex: I cant watch that many characters simultaneously push without feeling like I, too, have been put through the ringer.
Austin Chronicle
4.0
Off into the five borough wilds our protagonist goes, though this time, the shtick is much more clearly scripted.
Time Out
4.0
As a series of wonderfully grotesque set pieces, The Dictator delivers, from the Munich massacre a la Wii and a helicopter ride from hell to hipster b ..
Time Out
1.9
Bound to be one of the years biggest comedy letdowns, The Dictator doesnt so much stir hot button issues as showcase a great satirist off his game.
4.5
But a pretty lefty (Anna Faris) soon befriends him, not realising hes a murderous tyrant.
Screen Daily
1.5
Some stuff just doesnt work, and the extended edition has the worst of it.
Collider
3.0
This is his most conventionally formatted narrative film, without the pretense to catching people off guard in real situations, and while it will prov ..
The Hollywood Reporter
2.5
Several good comedic jabs are delivered along the way, but the films overall pace is fitful and its targets soft.
3.2
Such is the case with The Dictator, Baron Cohens latest collaboration with director Larry Charles.
Paste Magazine
2.5
While it may not be Sacha Baron Cohens best, it might just tickle your funny bone.
IGN
2.0
The result is a lack of any real comic tension between Aladeen and anyone else.
E Film Critic
1.0
To paraphrase the late Dick Emery: Aladeen is awful, but Sacha likes him.
Telegraph
3.0
The Dictator could easily be mistaken for a gross out comedy, but its a little cleverer than that.
Telegraph
3.0
The Dictator falls somewhere in between, though closer to Borat in originality and tone.The Dictator underscores both Baron Cohens genius and his foll ..
3.8
As satire goes, most of this is too broad to cut deeply, but it is undeniably propulsive and funny.
San Francisco Chronicle
3.0
Formulaic, yet scrappy, and extremely funny in fits and starts, General Aladeen is the first of Cohen comic creations to get a better vehicle than it ..
2.0
Most scenes either go on too long Charless comic timing in the edits seems badly off or takes the joke too far, and eventually The Dictator feels stuc ..
Cinema Blend
4.0
The easily offended will be appalled. The rarely offended may be appalled. But theyll have to stop laughing long enough to realize it.
Ny Daily News
3.0
THE DICTATOR doesnt measure up to BORAT, but is still wildly funny at times.
JoBlo
3.0
The amount of sheer laughter I heard during the parts of the film showcasing low rung stereotypes or gross out jokes compared to the more silent momen ..
Screen Rant
3.8
Not!.Aladeens speech is an inspired piece of political satire, and it is the high water mark of The Dictator, Baron Cohens latest total immersion alte ..
Philly
2.5
Most of the bits are funny, but the film that connects them is flat, the performances especially Cohens incomplete, under developed and poorly cut tog ..
Rogers Movie Nation
3.2
At best its only a fair comedy that mixes low brow humor, physical comedy and farce.
Sover
2.5
The plot by numbers story isnt merely clumsy; its insulting and damaging.
ReelViews
2.5
Better still, Cohen appeared to want to say a little something about Americas stupidity and hypocrisy in an entertaining and non preachy way.
Combust Ible Celluloid
2.0
Now that Sacha Baron Cohen is too famous to get away with the hit and run pranks of Borat or Da Ali G Show, hes just another superstar comedian playin ..
Chicago Reader
3.8
Baron Cohens simplistic caricature has a robust enough personality to carry him through ... the fish out of water story.
Mark Reviews Movies
3.0
Misogyny has rarely been this funny although late breaking news of Zoeys heritage almost upends the films finale.
3.1
And while tastelessness is rampant and the humor uneven, The Dictator also has its moments of slyly clever satire.
Usa Today
3.1
Its palpably dull stuff thats exacerbated by an incongruous lack of gore, with Parkers decision to stage each and every one of the kill sequences off ..
Reel Film Reviews
2.0
Aladeen also delivers a speech that acutely skewers the current state of American democracy, though this is more trenchant than laugh out loud funny.B ..
Eric Ds Nider
3.0
The jokes may be dark, beginning with a deadpan dedication to the late Kim Jong Il of North Korea, and Aladeen shares many of Borats non PC concerns s ..
Radio Times
3.5
The story is simple, and the running time is under 90 minutes.But the framework allows Cohen to work in some truly outrageous bits.
Screen It
3.1
The Dictator zigs and zags through its scant 84 minutes as if running wild to save its crazy ass.Oddly enough, this is a good thing.
Rolling Stone
4.0
The concept album that is Arethas Gold follows the chronology of Aretha Franklins hits, all released in 1967 and 1968, apex years of the decade not ju ..
Pop Matters
2.5
Not that anyone would dare make a movie about someone so utterly irredeemable, mind you.
The Wrap
3.0
Similarly, the character doesnt feel as well thought out as Baron Cohens previous creations, particularly in regard to his speech patterns and vocal q ..
View London
3.8
PLAYING AT Area theaters BOTTOM LINE Outrageously offensive and shamefully funny.Just forgive yourself and keep laughing.
News Day
3.0
In the end Aladeen delivers a speech equating Wadiyas despotism and Americas democracy.
Cs Monitor
3.1
It ends up being a lot less hilarious than Borat, and not quite as funny as Bruno.
New York Post
2.5
Many of the gags and lines of dialoguemuch of it improvisedmay sound funny on paper but fall flat onscreen.
Film Journal International ..
2.5
For the most part, the movies rhythms feel slightly off there are long stretches without a laugh and there is a mean spirited air to the whole thing.
Az Central
3.0
But theyre up against it this time.How do you mine absurdist satire out of a character who cant hope to be any more grotesque than the real thing
Smh
3.5
I wish we had more American movies like this entertainments that mix low farce and high political satire, reminding us that extreme silliness does not ..
Npr
3.8
The film is well paced, with most of the slack at the beginning, and the big gags near the finish.Baron Cohens shining moment comes when he delivers a ..
Star Tribune
3.0
And now we see The Dictator, a funny if more conventional comedy that doesnt bear a particularly alluring title.
Emanuellevy
3.5
As with Mel Brooks, its the good scenes and lines that stick in the mind rather than the misfires.
Guardian
4.0
This is not, repeat not, a cinephile homage to Chaplins The Great Dictator.It is less edgy than Baron Cohens previous two films, featuring big, conven ..
Guardian
2.5
But I see something more than that, a dark and even misanthropic moral and intellectual vision that conceals, somewhere way deep down, the smothered h ..
Salon
2.5
Most of The Dictator had me neither laughing nor shocked, but just staring at the screen in anxious is that all there is silence.
Slate
3.0
Cohen fans will still belly laugh and there are moments of solid satire, but for the most part The Dictator feels a mite stale.
Flim List
2.0
This is the least clever or funny of Cohens previous characters theres a blatant shortage of ideas.
1.5
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, The Dictator is a dumb, infantile 3, proving that even the most audacious, belligerent vulgarities get boring w ..
Susang Ranger
3.0
This is his first movie that is scripted from start to finish, and doesnt have everyday, unsuspecting folks taken by surprise in it.
Movies
3.5
I will find your taboos and push your good will to the point of rejection.
New Yorker
5.0
At heart the picture is basically a romantic comedy as Aladeen develops one of the most preposterously unlikely relationships in the movies.
Express
3.8
Unfortunately, all Burton has apparently embraced from the show is its campy reputation.
Mr Brown Movies
3.1
And I wish director Larry Charles third outing with Cohen had more of it.
Chicago Tribune
3.0
But while the films kitchen sink mentality results in almost as many bad jokes as good ones, when its funny, its laugh out loud funny.
Bullz-Eye
2.5
The new movie is mostly a scripted comedy with glimmers of improvisation, but it doesnt have the ambition to even risk seeming cruel.
Boston Globe
1.5
But they are too few, and far between, and most of whats left is really really dumb and desperately unfunny.
Flickfilosopher
2.0
You would strain to identify The Dictator as a clever movie.But it doesnt quite work as a big dumb movie either.
The Irish Times
5.0
I could forgive almost anything of a movie that makes me laugh, but this one is so scattershotand the good jokes are so overwhelmed by the dudsthat th ..
Blogs Indie Wire
2.5
The Dictator has occasional moments of social commentary (Aladeen gives a speech toward the end of the movie that is a brutal critique of American gov ..
Las Vegas Weekly
2.5
Yet for fans of Baron Cohens work there are plenty of moments of crass hilarity.
The Atlantic
3.0
Sacha Baron Cohen takes political satire to new heights. The Dictator is the most fun Ive had at the movies this year.
Coles Mithey
2.3
When The Dictator is funny, its really funny.And when its not funny, its really, really not funny.
3.1
On its own, this daring breach of the multiplex is almost enough to excuse the misfired gags that come before.
Groucho Reviews
3.0
Its a good looking film, and while theres a somewhat scattershot rhythm to the overall narrative, each sequence works well on its own.
Hit Fix
2.5
This is a tricky dilemma that The Dictator isnt great about resolving.
Ner Dist
3.8
For everyone else, The Dictator offers sidesplitting proof that, improvised or not, Cohens gift for cultural caricature is still intact.
Movies Tv Guide
2.5
But nothing here is sustained, neither the feel good redemption narrative nor the insistence that the jolly hero is a genuinely fearsome monster.
The Age
3.0
It is the intelligence behind the slapstick and broad comedy that may ultimately sink the film with viewers.
Maki At The Movies
3.1
I wasnt bored by this movie.Its much too short and enough of the jokes work to ensure that.
Three Movie Buffs
2.0
Does anyone else get the feeling that Sacha Baron Cohen is trying too hard in promoting The Dictator
Tamp A Bay
2.5
Sacha Baron Cohens 2006 hit Borat was arguably the funniest movie of the decade and among its most abrasive.
Kansas City
4.0
The Dictator perhaps spends a little too much time revisiting the same fish out of water scenarios expertly mined by Borat, but its a more satisfying ..
Digital Spy
2.5
Instead of exposing the bigoted idiocy onscreen, Baron Cohen exploits the audiences taste for the stupidly juvenile.
Red Eye Chicago
3.1
When it doesnt, it moves steadily between strikingly clever and disappointingly immature.
Dustin Put Man
3.5
Its too bad that Baron Cohen and his regular director, Larry Charles, settled for simply rehashing Borat Sagdiyev.
Ar Kansas Online
1.9
Aladeens outrageously insensitive statements have no deeper resonance in this environment.
Larsen On Film
4.5
Like being ordered to have long hair and smile on stage, but wondering how to smile with a trombone in your mouth.Or repeatedly told youre not good en ..
News Blaze
3.5
Outrageous, offensive and alternately sophisticated and crude, The Dictator is also quite funny as well as being Sacha Baron Cohens first comedy that ..
Hollywood And Fine
1.0
Beyond crass, beyond lazy and way beyond offensive, it proves that laughter by means of shocking material does indeed require intelligence and creativ ..
Matts Movie Reviews
3.0
Perhaps its fatigue with Cohens comedic impulses or some good old fashioned lazy writing, but The Dictator, while occasionally hilarious, is mostly fl ..
Brian Or Ndorf
3.0
But comfortable too comfortable is how the comedy feels in Cohens latest, The Dictator.
The Filmy Ap
3.8
Whats shocking is the movies finale, in which Baron Cohen as usual, fully committed to his character delivers a diatribe thats a satirical version of ..
Sltrib
2.0
Theres a terrific monologue from Cohen late in the movie which is provides the clear high point.Its just a shame we didnt see more of this.
The Film Pie
4.0
Much of what happens to Aladeen is quite outrageous and silly, but nonetheless youll still find yourself laughing your head off and just having a grea ..
Nyc Movie Guru
1.9
Sacha Baron Cohen portrays Admiral General Aladeen in The Dictator..Credit: Paramount Pictures Political satire is as old as ancient Greece, and Jonat ..
Js Online
1.9
Where most of Cohens films exploit non actors falling for his ruse, this dictator has been banished to one of those flash in the pan SNL movies, the o ..
Movie Crypt
3.5
The Dictator Synopsis The heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppre ..
Movie Web
2.0
Some of the gags may make you want to gag but fans of the risque British comedian will find much to enjoy.
Sky
2.5
This had a sharpness to it that was bracing, but the rest of the movie is toothless.The Dictator is very funny.
Sbs
4.0
The Dictator is comedy at its broadest, but underneath the hilarious beard and predictable September 11th gags lies a sharp script that attempts to ai ..
The Shiz Nit
3.0
The Dictator is certainly one of the most outrageous and distasteful ventures ever put to film.
What Culture
2.5
And somewhere along the way, in between making dick jokes and dictator jokes, Baron Cohen appears to have forgotten about the finesse required, and th ..
What Culture
3.0
Admittedly, its hard to imagine anyone watching The Dictator and not finding at least a few of its jokes funny.
Scots Man
3.1
The difference is that The Dictator is fashioned in the style of the modern American romantic comedy.
Scene Stealers
2.0
Unfortunately, the story a parody of a Middle Eastern autocrat not unlike the late Muammar Gaddafi is strained, and the parody dated.
reason
3.0
But laughter never lies, and just like in a real democracy, sometimes the undeserving gets the majority of votes.It may not be an ideal system, but da ..
Streaming Quickflix
1.5
But what makes it such a singular experience is the convergence of fine acting, moral urgency and a willingness to linger on moments of great intensit ..
Wsj
2.0
By now, Sacha Baron Cohens funny foreigner shtick (Borat, Bruno) should be utterly familiar to audiences, like sticky floors or stale popcorn.
East Bay Express
2.0
Unfortunately, however, it instead feels like the kind of film a real dictator would have penned and put into production without anyone offering any s ..
Concrete Play Ground
3.5
The exceptional monologue at the movies conclusion may be The Dictators crowning achievement, however the rest of the utterly inappropriate yet interm ..
Trespass Mag
5.0
Cohen is top notch in what amounts to a dual role, as are co stars Faris, in a rare appearance as a comic straight man, and Oscar winner Kingsley.Supp ..
Media Mikes
3.0
That added something visceral to the humour that most of us had never seen before.
Toronto Sun
3.0
Luckily, Cohen is good enough to hit your funny bone just enough to make this 85 minute movie worthwhile.
The Scorecard Review
1.0
The film presents nothing new, either idea or performance wise weve seen plenty of funnier, smarter takedowns of dictators on ESS and overall, the mos ..
Cairo 360
3.5
The Dictator manages to wring an amazing number of laughs out of its simple premise.
Johnhanlon Reviews
1.0
The racism, gender bias and stereotype gags work in their first application but youre beaten over the head with them so often that within moments your ..
Graffiti With Punctuation
2.0
I tried hard to think of even one scene in this comedy starring Sacha Baron Cohen, but failed.Ultimately, thats how forgettable this film really is.
Movie Chambers
3.0
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Richard Roeper
2.9
K: How was the pacing.Sometimes, theres a heart, it keeps movinghow was the tone of it all
Schmoes Know
3.0
This being a Sacha Baron Cohen comedy, theres no such thing as a taboo or boundary or a thought to good taste, so of course a lot of the humour is of ..
The Diva Review
4.3
Cohens humor is political, though in the end it may really only be humanitarian.
Movie Line
4.0
The Dictator is fast paced, coherent, continually inventive and frequently confronting.
Cinema Autopsy
1.5
In the movie theyre simply disjointed gags, barely strung together, all riffing on exactly the same joke again and again.
Bad Ass Digest
4.0
We cant resist a wry smile when Cohens abominable protagonist makes a speech to American dignitaries and exposes the Land of the Free as a dictatorshi ..
Liver Pool Echo
1.0
Unfortunately, for every single clever joke there are ten offensive or crude bits of humour to endure.
The Popcorn Junkie
5.0
www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article 180395/Movies best rest.html Similar The most memorable movie of the week is undoubtedly this utterly insane att ..
Google
3.0
(And Charles, needless to remind anyone, is no ones idea of a master comic filmmaker.).For all its boundary pushing, The Dictator only once makes you ..
Blog Oregonlive
2.5
A DENSE FOG ADVISORY MEANS VISIBILITIES WILL FREQUENTLY BE REDUCED TO LESS THAN ONE QUARTER MILE.
Host Madison
0.5
What misfires so spectacularly is the overt sentimentality that should bind the gags within some kind of real world framework, giving the audience the ..
Screen Space(Squarespace)
3.0
The Dictator works precisely because of this willingness to take aim at both sides, rightly reiterating The Great Dictator and its disdain for autocra ..
Ultra Culture
3.5
Love him or loath him, Cohen and his gonzo comedy arent for everybody. But just remember, 70 years ago, neither was Charlie Chaplin.
American Profile
3.0
And it makes The Dictator a different kind of Coming to America provocative, uncomfortable, irreverent, and oftentimes, laugh out loud funny.Play Shor ..
The Reel Deal
2.5
Instead, its comfortable swatting the same old villains while indulging in potty humor meant to distract us from the lack of seriously funny wit.
Big Hollywood
3.5
But if youre prepared to give yourself over to the intentionally outrageous spirit thats intended here, then you will be rewarded with an entertaining ..
Access Hollywood
3.0
This movie is never dangerous; it never feels like Baron Cohen is getting away with anything.
Deads
3.8
KamWilliams.com The Sly Fox Film Reviews publishes the content of film critic Kam Williams.
Kam Williams
2.0
Despite the movies skimpy 83 minute run time, it often seemed to drag itself out unnecessarily.
Ticket Sarasota
2.5
When it shoots for the skid marked skies The Dictator is very much cross the line and throw up on it comedy, but there are smarts beneath the stains.
Blogs Crikey
2.5
Most of the humor is of the fish out of water variety, and not much of it works.Its a tired formula.
Jeffrey Manderson Blog Spo ..
3.5
The problem is that, unlike Ali G, Borat, and Brno, Aladeen is less a force of nature than a scripted performance.
Tablet Mag
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The Dictator