The Dictator

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Myself

Sacha Baron Cohen ditches his documentary style and using real peoples reactions in his films and makes a more traditional comedy with a new and equally outrageous character. It manages to go through all the beats of a traditional comedy you'd expect but manages to subvert a lot of them at the same time.

But unlike the Aptow school of comedy Cohen and director Larry Charles keep it brief and moving along. There's probably just as much great material left on the cutting room floor here that will no doubt be on some dvd somewhere at a later date, but the film itself manages to never outstay its welcome. 

And for fans, they'll find much to love here. I find his humor hit and miss but did find quite a bit to enjoy here. It's always the unexpected that excites or shocks and there's certainly a lot of that here. Some fun cameos and a bitingly satirical final inspirational speech which somehow manages to feels satisfying as the end of a journey whilst signifying that this character has not learnt anything or really changed at all. That's pretty impressive. 

It's also very silly, but really that's the only way you can handle this kind of tragic subject matter.