The Dictator (2012)

Sacha Baron Cohen without a hidden camera is a magician who shows you the trapdoor first. The Dictator is fully scripted. When the reactions were real, the jokes felt dangerous. Here everybody’s an actor, and every gag waits politely for its laugh. Too many of them are the cheap, gross-out kind, and they pile up fast even at 83 minutes. Ben Kingsley gets stuck playing a schemer whose main job is lurking near doorways. Anna Faris works hard as Zoey, but the romance is one joke about opposites. Jason Mantzoukas is a bright spot as Aladeen’s old nuclear scientist, a guy who mostly just wants his job back. The best stretch is a late speech where Aladeen praises dictatorship by describing things that sound uncomfortably familiar, and for one scene the movie actually bites. It still made $179.4 million worldwide. A 4.1 because the sharpest satire lasts one scene and the rest is shock for its own sake. $5,582 says you shave a beard someday and spend the whole day testing whether anyone recognizes you.

What works: Sacha Baron Cohen commits completely, and the late speech about dictatorship is sharp satire.

What doesn’t: Too many jokes go for cheap gross-outs, and Ben Kingsley and Anna Faris get thin, one-note roles.

Who it’s for: Grown-up fans of Sacha Baron Cohen’s earlier characters who want to see his act fully scripted.