Review No.80: The Dictator

I hope you're not that bored of my tales of cinema trips just yet as we now hit Orange Wednesday on an extremely hot day in May so a cool down was of course in order. The staff at the cinema were so perplexed that anyone would want to come into their establishment on a glorious day such as this that they didn't bother opening the doors till they saw us coming. After we split the price of two tickets three ways we settled down into a completely empty screening of Sacha Baron Cohen's latest character comedy The Dictator. Cohen once more dons the comedy facial hair this time to play General Aladeen the ruler of the African state of Wadiya who like all good dictators enjoys blowing things up and torturing his people. Early on though we learn that Aladeen just wants to be loved after having rough sex with Megan Fox he wants her to stay for cuddles however she buggers off after getting a rolex as payment. Aladeen eventually comes to America where he is betrayed by the rightful heir to the Wadiya empire played by Ben Kinglsey who orders his assassination intsead placing one of the general's doubles to go through with making the country a democracy in order to market oil. However the hitman, played by John C Reilly, ends up simply cutting off Aladeen's beard meaning that he is unrecognisable to everyone and is essentially just another immigrant. Aladeen is taken in by health-food store owner Anna Farris whose contract with a local hotel will allow him to gain access to his double and reclaim his rightful place as head of the country. As things go on though he starts to fall for her and he discovers that he might not have had as much power in Wadiya as he originally thought.

I feel that nowadays you know what you're going to get from a Cohen comedy namely a funny accent, lots of swearing and plenty of taking the piss out of the Americans. In fact one of the funniest jokes in the film is in which Aladeen points out that the USA is essentially run like a dictatorship or certainly was done under George W Bush. As one of my friends noted aftewards a lot of the jokes were in the trailer and this is true as I'd seen the suspected terrorism in the helicopter as well as the 'Wadiya Games' segments prior to seeing the film. There was enough to keep me going though thanks to a lot of great set pieces and some game cameos from Megan Fox and Edward Norton but for me some of the biggest laughs came when hearing Arabian versions of popular songs including 'Everybody Hurts'. There was one or two many uses of toilet humour for me, including an extensive sequence in which Aladeen learns to play with himself for the first time, plus Anna Faris' character almost became a bit of a stereotype what with her environmentalist attitude and her hairy armpits. Overall though there were a fair few laughs in The Dictator, which at the end of the day is what you want from a comedy, but if Cohen and director Larry Charles think they're over-stepping the boundaries then they're really not. Essentially what The Dictator is is a decent comedy which you could easily watch on DVD while munching a take-away but it's not disciplined enough to be the satire that it truly wants to be.

Verdict: An enjoyable comedy that passes the time and provides plenty of laughs but has nothing beyond that in terms of depth so I'll award it a solid 7/10

Review No.5: Carnage

The awards film continue now with one that has already seen its two lead actresses pick up Golden Globe nominations in the comedy character even though there aren't a lot of big laughs in Carnage. The story sees a boy named Zachary hit another boy Ethan with a stick knocking out two of his teeth and bringing together their two sets of parents for a meeting. The film then explores suburban politeness and moral responsibility as Ethan's parents Michael and Penelope, played by John C Reilly and Jodie Foster, invite Zachary's parents Nancy and Alan who are played by Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz around to sort out the situation. At first everybody is all smiles with coffee and cake being passed around but soon things get heated after Nancy suffers a migraine and vomits all over Penelope's priceless art books. The humour arises from little recurring sequences such as Alan constantly recieving phone-calls about a lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company that he represents and a drug that Michael's mother just happens to be on. The final scenes are the most hilarious as both couples start to get drunk we see the resentment between the women and their partners and finally we see the massive blow-up followed by the ultimate scene involving the two boys.

Carnage is an odd film partly because it is directed by Roman Polanski not someone particularly known for his comic output and also because of its awkward nature. I feel I didn't find it as funny as other people who were watching it although towards the end I did find myself start to giggle as the social barriers finally got broken down due to the excessive amount of alcohol that was being consumed. It definitely explores some interesting themes but at the end of the day there's no getting away from the fact that it started life as a play and for the most part is just four very accomplished actors sitting in a room discussing African culture and Cobbler recipes. The film's biggest strength is the four actors who all give it their all, Reilly was a brilliant choice as he's someone who excels at both comedy and drama while Carnage also sees Waltz's least sinister role yet and he also displays a very dry wit. Kate Winslet seems to be continuing the theme of being the ill one after her role in Contagion however it is Jodie Foster who is the standout here as I feel its been ages since I've seen her in a film that isn't a thriller and Penelope is possibly the most multi-layered of the four characters. This definitely had its moments and the final build-up was excellent even if what had come before wasn't always spectacular.

Verdict: A well made adaptation of a play with four sparkling performances but one which relies purely on a script and not a lot else so it gets 7/10