The Dictator (2012)

All Critics (207) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (119) | Rotten (88) | DVD (1)

The film has a vicious edge that the Marx Brothers didn't have, and it's too low-minded to achieve their enchanting blend of anarchy and surrealism.

May 22, 2012 Full Review | Comments (3)

David Denby

New Yorker

Top Critic

Now [Cohen is] turning material both fresh and rancid into tepid gruel.

May 17, 2012 Full Review | Comments (8)

Joe Morgenstern

Wall Street Journal

Top Critic

On the laughmeter The Dictator is closer to Borat than to the misfired Bruno, which is to say it's funny for about half of its brisk 83 minutes.

May 17, 2012 Full Review | Comments (3)

Peter Rainer

Christian Science Monitor

Top Critic

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

May 16, 2012 Full Review | Comments (24)

Dana Stevens

Slate

Top Critic

A bit scattershot and schticky, the film never quite settles into a consistent comic rhythm. Yet for fans of Baron Cohen's work there are plenty of moments of crass hilarity.

May 16, 2012 Full Review

Christopher Orr

The Atlantic

Top Critic

For the most part, the movie's rhythms feel slightly off -- there are long stretches without a laugh -- and there is a mean-spirited air to the whole thing.

May 16, 2012 Full Review | Comments (3)

Randy Cordova

Arizona Republic

Top Critic

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

March 4, 2013 Full Review

Catherine Bray

Film4

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

March 4, 2013 Full Review

Tom Glasson

Concrete Playground

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

December 26, 2012 Full Review

Charlie Lyne

Ultra Culture

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

December 17, 2012 Full Review

Rob Gonsalves

eFilmCritic.com

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

October 16, 2012 Full Review

Clay Cane

BET.com

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?

October 2, 2012 Full Review

Kofi Outlaw

ScreenRant

While The Dictator may appear different than Borat and Brüno, 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.

September 15, 2012 Full Review

David Baldwin

We Got This Covered

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.

August 27, 2012 Full Review

Paul Chambers

Movie Chambers

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

August 27, 2012 Full Review | Comments (2)

Erick Weber

NECN

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.

August 22, 2012 Full Review

William Bibbiani

CraveOnline

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.

August 21, 2012 Full Review

R. L. Shaffer

IGN DVD

Most of the film is fairly gentle in its political, social, and personal jabs. I kept looking for more bite. (Blu-ray edition)

August 18, 2012 Full Review

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

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

August 18, 2012 Full Review

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

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.

June 30, 2012 Full Review

Jim Schembri

3AW

A missed opportunity of global proportions.

June 22, 2012 Full Review

Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

What's shocking is the movie's finale, in which Baron Cohen -- as usual, fully committed to his character -- delivers a diatribe that's a satirical version of Charlie Chaplin's famous speech in The Great Dictator.

June 14, 2012 Full Review

Sean Means

Salt Lake Tribune

It doesn't expose stupidity. That's what Cohen has done absolutely wonderfully in the past with his other characters. Now he's just acting stupid, with only some funny results.

June 13, 2012 Full Review | Comment (1)

Jeff Bayer

The Scorecard Review

By this time, even Eve Ensler probably would support a movie and TV comedy moratorium on the use of the word 'vagina.'

June 4, 2012 Full Review

John Beifuss

Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

The danger for Baron Cohen is having made his name as a confrontational comedian but delivering something that, while occasionally provocative, feels too conventional.

June 2, 2012 Full Review | Comments (2)

Mark Pfeiffer

Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema

Both the laughter and the satire had crawled off and quietly died.

June 1, 2012 Full Review | Comment (1)

Jenny McCartney

Daily Telegraph

• 1. General Aladeen: I accept your job offer as general manager.
  2. Zoey: Well you can't be the manager because I'm the manager.
  3. General Aladeen: Well I can if I killed you.
  – Submitted by Typhon Q (54 days ago)
• 1. General Aladeen: Good morning Nadal! Wake up, Good Morning Nadal!
  2. Nadal: Waaaaaaaaaa!
  3. General Aladeen: Hello Nadal!
  4. Nadal: Oh that is weird!
  – Submitted by Isaiah Collins A (2 months ago)
• 1. General Aladeen: Do you sell any assault rifles?
  – Submitted by Isaiah Collins A (2 months ago)
• 1. General Aladeen: You promise not to steal again?
  2. Store Customer: I won't. I won't!
  3. General Aladeen: Give him one more for fun, Viktor.
  – Submitted by Jean R (2 months ago)
• 1. General Aladeen: Don't worry. I am Wadiya's number one actor. You don't twin four Wadiyan Golden Globes for nothing.
  2. Nadal: Yes, you do, because you gave them to yourself!
  3. General Aladeen: My performance in Aladeen Jones and the Temple of Doom was outstanding.
  4. Nadal: I give it thumbs down.
  5. General Aladeen: Have you seen You've Got Mail Bomb?
  6. Nadal: Yes, I've seen them all! They're all terrible movies!
  – Submitted by Jean R (2 months ago)
• 1. General Aladeen: I'm attracted to you in a really fucked up way.
  – Submitted by Aisha S (4 months ago)

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