The problem is that, unlike Ali G, Borat, and Brüno, Aladeen is less a force of nature than a scripted performance. Despite Baron Cohen’s insistence on giving interviews in character, The Dictator—directed, like Borat and Brüno, by Larry Charles—is entirely fictional. Da Baron has given up da shtick.

A.O. Scott calls the film lazy in the New York Times, adding that The Dictator “gestures halfheartedly toward topicality and, with equal lack of conviction, toward pure, anarchic silliness.”

If it’s any consolation, here’s SBC in character, falling off a camel for real at the Cannes Film Festival:

(photo credit: TAL COHEN/AFP/GettyImages)

The post Sacha Baron Cohen’s Latest Film, ‘The Dictator,’ Disappoints Critics appeared first on Jewcy.

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