Perhaps Sacha Baron Cohen is best served using his comedic talents in scripted ventures like Hugo or Anchorman, rather than trying to relive old Borat glories with less interesting characters? That was the question that first popped in my head after watching the uninspiring first trailer for The Dictator, which has him reunited with director Larry Charles.
In The Dictator, Cohen plays the democracy hating ruler of a foreign land, who comes to visit America. Why? Who knows? It doesn't really matter. Think Coming to America, if the Eddie Murphy character was Saddam Hussein. Actually the film is "inspired" by Hussein's alledged romance novel, Zabibah and the King. The only good line of the trailer is a dig at the Kardashians, provided by Megan Fox playing a sluttier version of herself(if you can believe it). Conspicuously absent is Anna Faris, who falls in love with a goat herder(also played by Cohen). We get plenty of Ben Kingsley and John C. Reilly, however, although I'm unable to figure out why they're in this. Check out the trailer for The Dictator below....
Maybe it's just me, but I've never found Cohen to be all that funny. At least not when he brings his popular characters to the big screen. People loved Borat, and there were some moments where the lengths he would go to for a laugh made my jaw drop. It was always more shock over substance, though, and not nearly as insightful as some wanted to label it. Bruno was an utter failure in every way imaginable, and the less said about Ali G in Da House the better. I feel like he's run out of things to say.
We'll find out when The Dictator parades into theaters on May 11th 2012.
