Kinda-Sorta Funny in a Who-Caresy Sort of Way
Patton Oswalt used to have a bit about going to open mics when he was a younger comedian, saying there were essentially three types of performers you’d see there: people who had a voice and potential, people who were funny-but-who-cares, and lunatics. Sacha Cohen always used to seem like an intriguing 50-50 combo of potential genius and complete lunatic, and that makes it all the more disappointing to see him in The Dictator, the ultimate “funny, but who cares” movie. He even reuses some of his old jokes, like the one about how a woman in politics is like a monkey flying a plane. (Here, it’s a woman in education is like a monkey on roller skates).
I liked that joke a lot when it was in Borat, but you know a joke’s not specific when it can be used for two different characters. The Dictator is just the broadest of broad comedy. It’s like a 90-minute MTV Movie Awards sketch. Its one saving grace is that it spends the first bit so drastically lowering your expectations that you eventually accept the hammy inconsistency enough that by the end you can just chuckle along with the jokes that are so-so (and if you’ve read my writing on this website, you know I have no problem with a so-so joke). I did enjoy the shot from inside Kathryn Hahn’s vagina. That was a highlight.
It’s hard to compare documentary-style comedies like Borat or Bruno to the fully-scripted Dictator, because with the former, the plot can be the most basic, predictable framework, and that’s okay, because with people who aren’t in on the joke always standing around, there’s always the possibility of something unexpected happening. That element doesn’t exist in The Dictator, but even if we’re comparing apples to apples, the fully-staged, “running of the Jew” scene in Borat is 100 times funnier than anything in The Dictator. That was creative, wildly politically incorrect, and above all, specific. Making fun of a Muslim strongman isn’t even politically incorrect. In fact it’s probably the most politically correct. The Dictator just couches all its jokes in vulgarity to make it seem politically incorrect. It’s kind of like shitty fake punk, where you scratch your pick across the strings and grimace even though the song’s about holding hands with girls at the Dairy Queen. Jokes in The Dictator, like Admiral Aladeen saying he wants to get home so he can watch “The Real Housewives of Ahmadinehulalabajad” just don’t have the same punch as throwing money at cockroaches in case the Jews are shapeshifters. I love poop/fart/vagina humor, but less so when it’s just a crutch to prop up lazy pop culture references. HAHA, FUNNY ACCENTS AND LINDSAY LOHAN! Honestly, how much different is that than Ashton Kutcher’s Pop Chips ad? Other than that Sacha Cohen is a talented comedian and Ashton Kutcher is a buffoon, and that beard-face is acceptable while brown-face isn’t, they’re actually pretty similar.
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