The Dictator: Critic Reviews

While Baron Cohen's lanky physical slapstick and verbal manglings are funny, the movie begins to feel like one of the later, worn-out Pink Panther movies.

Although the character of Aladeen seems awfully predictable by Baron Cohen standards, the movie itself veers from one hilarious, absurd and patently offensive setup to the next...

Most of The Dictator had me neither laughing nor shocked, but just staring at the screen in anxious is-that-all-there-is? silence.

One of the cleverest moments in Sacha Baron Cohen's The Dictator comes during the first five seconds: a memorial dedication to Kim Jong Il. It's all downhill from there.

Cohen employs a comic range that ricochets between wicked political barbs and the lowest anatomical farce, to often funny and occasionally hilarious effect.

Clearly, Baron Cohen is a smart, gifted and versatile actor; it's time for him to stretch his abilities and dictate to himself a new kind of challenge.

Fans of the nasty Baron Cohen may regret his being borderline nice in The Dictator. But we should welcome his decision to stop being the best at something few others dare try and instead to inhabit a more familiar comedy style.

The Dictator starts at outrageous and rockets on from there. Screw the occasional sputter.

Of course it's offensive and tasteless. That's the point. Sometimes the jokes are excruciatingly funny.

By turns hysterical, heretical, guilty, innocent, silly, sophisticated, teasing and tedious.

Underrated comic excellence from Sacha Baron Cohen with plenty of sharp satire lacing the broader gross-out gags.

Consistently offensive, and not in a way that should automatically be dismissed as 'edgy' or 'provocative'.

The film's writers understand that satire is infinitely more powerful when it's accessible

By now, what looked like good dirty fun, a funhouse mirror pointed at America, has calcified into easy shtick.

The publicity stunts for promoting The Dictator were funnier than the actual movie.

A sly/insightful portrait that the comedian has already painted, and re-painted, and painted again. How many examples of the same idea can he successfully convey on film?

While The Dictator may appear different than Borat and Bruno, it is very much the same idea as both films, packed with the same jokes and new ones that are more disturbing than they are hilarious.

Cohen remains a talented comedian. I like his anything-goes sense of humor. But, "The Dictator" feels like he was holding back to get people to like his character.

Where Borat had unsuspecting victims, The Dictaror is saddled with actors; the Candid Camera element erased. As is the shock value.

Where Borat had unsuspecting victims, The Dictaror is stuck with actors; the Candid Camera element erased. As is the shock value.

It doesn't have much to say about the character Cohen portrays or about how the world perceives that stereotype, which results in a paper thin but generally amusing little farce.

A few laughs here and there at the expense of offensive stereotypes, The Dictator mostly repeats jokes we've seen in other, better Sacha Baron Cohen films.

This is Cohen in a lightweight mood, taking very few chances, instead relying on only mildly irreverant humor.

While [Sacha Baron Cohen's] latest, ultra-hyped effort The Dictator has its fair share of disgusting, gross-out moments, perhaps the biggest shock is that it actually has a decent story and engaging characters.

A missed opportunity of global proportions.