Review: The Dictator

Don't go in expecting anything new from Sacha Baron Cohen, as The Dictator once again features Cohen combining another outrageous foreign accent alongside many even more outrageous jokes in his tried and tested formula.

The main difference is dropping the interaction with real people that had started to wear thin in the hit & miss Brüno, this time around the film is a straight up comedy that Cohen's performance as the despot Aladeen has to carry throughout, with the rest of the cast simply there to be the butt of his latest offensive outburst.

He succeeds at this thanks to most of the jokes hitting the mark and wisely keeping the running time short, with The Dictator being a rare example of a Hollywood comedy that finishes before the 90 minute mark. One downside of the switch to the scripted form seems to be the loss of some of the satire present in his previous work, the one scene at the end feels a bit bolted on and slightly out of place in a story that gives more prominence to the relationship between Aladeen and Anna Faris' Zooey.

The Dictator won't go down as one of Sacha Baron Cohen's more memorable work, but will still makes a fun way to spend a Friday night.