May 16, 2012 in GENRES
THE DICTATOR
RYAN: This is Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest character movie and quite a departure from Borat and Bruno in the sense that it’s a scripted film, not a mockumentary-improv style flick.
KIM: I never saw Borat or Bruno so I have nothing to draw upon for his comedy sensibility.
RYAN: In comparison to them, I’m disappointed in this movie because those were so brilliant and he has such a unique voice as a comedian that after seeing those movies I actually thought he was en route to earning a Lifetime Achievement award someday.
KIM: You’re crazy, honey.
RYAN: [laughs’ Well after watching this, I liked parts of it and other parts of it didn’t work to the point where I wished he would have instead done another improv character comedy.
KIM: Going for the jugular comedy and trying to get peoples’ reactions, I understand; but I guess I’m not the demographic for this. We heard a lot of laughter in the theater but I think that was more from boys in the audience.
RYAN: It’s boy humor insomuch as there are a lot of potty jokes. But he’s really an equal-opportunist when taking jabs at the non-PC jokes – every religion, race, gender, sex, etc… it’s all just so wrong, in the funny way. It’s all very tongue-in-cheek, Sarah Silverman-esque with the full intention of humor. You know you’re walking into a rated-R comedy. That being said, I was equally entertained and offended.
KIM: Me too. I can’t say I didn’t laugh but I was laughing and extremely offended at the same time. We can’t just walk around telling the jokes he told in this film.
RYAN: Hell no. But that’s what makes this ok… you know what you’re walking into and the audience going to buy these tickets are looking for this category of humor and while it certainly is offensive, we have to allow for that artistic expression.
KIM: Totally.
RYAN: But I don’t know what it says about who I am in 2012 that I’m mildly offended by this as well as laughing. I feel like there was a time when I would have just laughed.
KIM: He is wonderful at what he does and his performance is good but let’s move onto some of the cameos and costars. I love Anna Faris!
RYAN: I love her too and once again, she just has such a funny energy and her facial expressions… everything works for her.
KIM: She works her shtick and will never lose it. I always love her.
RYAN: She made all the offensive stuff more palatable in a way. We’re so used to her in spoof movies, we have a level of expectation with her as an audience as well.
KIM: One of the jabs they had which I totally loved and wanted to LOL at was taken at Crocs. People love them and I never understood why. They are the ugliest footwear in the entire world.
RYAN: Crocs were over 2 weeks after they were invented, LBH, let’s be honest. But without giving anything else away, the best part of the film, for me, was all the celebrity cameos.
KIM: Some were very unexpected and funny.
RYAN: And the soundtrack was really good. There were several recognizable songs used but newly recorded versions of them in this “Wadian” language; very funny and appropriate. I didn’t really LOL though. I was more laughing on the inside in this movie.
KIM: The theater did erupt once in a while but I wasn’t really as on board with it.
RYAN: Some moments were just shock comedy and so crossed the line that I was like, “Wow.” But he did that in Borat and Bruno too so you expect some of that as well. No matter how desensitized you are, you’ll still be shocked.
KIM: I did gasp a few more times than I laughed.
RYAN: Ben Kingsley – such a versatile actor. He’s not used in a comedic way in this film but he’s still always effective.
KIM: I like him in more dramatic films and this wasn’t a stretch for him.
RYAN: It’s only, like, an hour and twenty minutes long and you’ll want to stay through the first half of the credits for some outtakes.
KIM: It does have time on it’s side. I thought it was funny, not LOL funny, but I still wasn’t bored during it ever.
— BOTTOM LINE —
KIM: I don’t think I’m the right person for this. It offended me more than it made me laugh. I would say skip it.
RYAN: I’m a huge SBC fan and I had such high expectations that I was actually disappointed in this. I thought his previous character comedies were genius. This was not. So for me, I’d say rent it. Also, it’s totally worth seeing for the political speech he makes at the end of the film. It’s outstanding and will absolutely inspire conversation.
— RATING —
buddy2blogger May 18, 2012
Nice review of the movie.Check out my review .Cheers!