Sacha Baron Cohen has been hailed by many as a master of comedy. I’m not one of those. Although I thought Borat was hysterical, I found his Ali G and Bruno creations dull and worthy of a chuckle at best. This satire on dictatorship (the hint is in the title) gratefully lands closer to the Borat end of the scale. There are numerous gags that fizzle away, however these are counterbalanced by a plethora of laugh-out-loud moments that had me crying with laughter. Cohen is ballsy, there’s no doubting that, and his latest character – the fascist, racist, sexist, homicidal and egotistical war criminal General Aladeen – dishes out jokes that centre on sexual abuse and genocide, among other things, all the while ensuring women and minority groups are belittled at every possible opportunity. Cohen’s style of comedy isn’t everybody’s cup of tea – Bruno certainly wasn’t mine – however I shamefully have to admit that The Dictator had me in stitches.
