The Dictator: Critic Reviews

Yes, you will be offended. But there's no hope of not laughing often at a film dedicated "in loving memory of Kim Jong-il."

Alternately clever and cliche; occasionally potent but often bumpy, the comedy is a respectable mess.

Has a few good moments of wit but overall it's like finding a needle in a pile of soiled nappies.

Even the stoniest face will crack when Aladeen sums up our cultural moment in a rousing, uproarious climactic speech worthy of both Chaplin and Team America.

Pretty funny, but nowhere near as outrageous as it purports to be.

Most of the bits are funny, but the film that connects them is flat, the performances -- especially Cohen's -- incomplete, under-developed and poorly cut together.

It's hard to imagine anyone watching The Dictator and not finding at least a few of its jokes funny.

Not as good as Borat, but thankfully not Bruno, there are some huge laughs to be had. And no, I'm not praising the film because Aladeen threatened me ... though I wouldn't put it past him.

Its dolly- and crane-operated polish points toward an acquiescence to Tinseltown mores, which until now Baron Cohen hovered cheekily above.

This is a movie that may make you laugh or may make you squirm.

Though The Dictator feels disjointed at times... Cohen and co-writer Alex Berg strike a great balance between the obscene and shocking bits and the more clever gags.

The Dictator is a slogan t-shirt movie. It's funny momentarily; but tiresome, boring and flat out infantile the longer that you're forced to stare at it.

If a comedy is meant to make you laugh, mission accomplished. As a series of wonderfully grotesque set-pieces, The Dictator delivers.

Not as offbeat and edgy as Borat and not as vulgar as Bruno, this is Baron Cohen's most mainstream film, containing political barbs, visual gags, and bathroom jokes that are often extremely funny.

When "The Dictator" wants to make a point, it does. When it doesn't, it moves steadily between strikingly clever and disappointingly immature.

The Dictator perhaps spends a little too much time revisiting the same fish-out-of-water scenarios expertly mined by Borat, but it's a more satisfying all-round comedy than the uneven Bruno.

Not all comedy can be redeemed with gooey sentiment or a man hug in the final frames, but The Dictator makes good on its promise of a raunchy comedy with a worthy message, and delivers lowbrow yuks with high-minded intellect.

THE DICTATOR doesn't measure up to BORAT, but is still wildly funny at times.

Although I'm no fan of Sacha Baron Cohen's work, I always find morsels of memorable satire or plain humour in his work, most of which relies on buffoonery, audacious bad taste and tickling the juvenile fancy

In the kingdom of comedy there is currently only one ruler. Hail Sacha Baron Cohen!

Not all of it is particularly amusing, but most of it is invigoratingly offensive.

Formulaic, yet scrappy, and extremely funny in fits and starts.

Sacha Baron Cohen reaches new lows with The Dictator, confusing risque comedy with repulsive humour that overthrows any attempt at making a stir with its political satire.

The film is consistently amusing, if never quite shocking or hilarious.

The Dictator feels almost exactly like a Saturday Night Live movie from the 90s.