The Dictator

Column: The Word on Films | Date Published: Tuesday, 12 June 12 | Author: Melissa Wellham | 11 months, 1 week ago

This is the story of a dictator (Sacha Baron Cohen) who, after an attempted assassination attempt, must ‘save’ his country from the plague of democracy. Baron Cohen’s latest effort sees the comedian move away from his unscripted satirical approach that made Borat so popular, to an entirely scripted effort that is a glorified rom-com.

Of course, it’s not his fault that he can no longer parody as an inflammatory character on the street – he has simply become too recognisable. However, what is Baron Cohen’s fault is that so many of the jokes in this film fall flat. They’re not that funny. I’m not even speaking from my feminist, politically correct high horse, either. You go into a film like The Dictator expecting the jokes to be racist, sexist, gross, over-the-top, sensationalist and provocative. What I didn’t expect, however, was the complete lack of wit. This so-called ‘poli-slapstick’ is no politics and all slap-in-the-face.

There are few amusing moments and fewer still genuinely laugh-out-loud moments. There is a great monologue from Baron Cohen at the end of the film about how much better America would be if it weren’t a democracy (he then lists a number of atrocities that could be committed against citizens under a dictatorship… that the US already commits) – but this is one of the only moments that stands-out in my memory.

Unfortunately The Dictator is neither incisive nor intelligently hilarious; it’s basically just ignorant nonsense.

	Home By Christmas: The New Zealand film Home By Christmas, showing for a limited time in Canberra at the National Film and Sound Archive, is a film ‘memoir’ about director Gaylene Preston’s father and mother’s experiences of being separated during WWII. The story is based on recorded interviews with Preston’s father, Ed, which are reenacted for the film by Tony Barry. This interview footage is interspersed with a dramatic recreation of the era, starring Martin Henderson as a young version of Ed and Chelsie Preston-Crayford (Preston’s daughter!) as a young version of her mother, Tui. It’s a family affair, then. The film is an interesting melding of fact and fiction, archival footage and dramatic recreation, which makes for compelling viewing. Tony Barry is a standout as Preston’s deceased father, acting out the ‘interviews’ with restraint, composure, and the gruffness that one usually sees from veterans when they talk about the carnage of war. Preston-Crayford and Henderson also turn in affecting performances and the chemistry between them is palpable. The greatest feat of the film, however, is in the interweaving narratives – told from present and past, using various forms – for which all credit must go to Gaylene Preston. A moving memoir that reminds the viewer about the sacrifice that New Zealanders made by fighting in the war, Home by Christmas is well worth trying to get along to one of the few screenings available.
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	What To Expect When You’re Expecting: Yet another film consisting of several story threads around a theme, featuring a selection of Hollywood A-listers (and quite a few B-listers), all connected in some obscure way. Sadly, this film is closer to the New Year’s Eve end of the scale rather than Love Actually. What To Expect When You’re Expecting follows several different couples all dealing with pregnancy, adoption and the trials that come with it – famous fitness guru Jules (Cameron Diaz); determined shop owner Wendy (Elizabeth Banks); young chef Rosie (Anna Kendrick); retired Nascar driver Ramsey (Dennis Quaid); photographer Holly (Jennifer Lopez) and a mish-mash of comic relief characters. What to Expect is, as you would expect, pitched as a comedy with heart – but unfortunately it’s a shallow collection of clichés and only mildly funny and clever. The plot situations are mostly too contrived to be touching and several of the stories aren’t properly explored or explained, which would be frustrating if I actually cared about any of the characters. Also, the women are portrayed as a bit too baby-crazy for my liking, dragging hapless men around by the balls. Sadly, while this could have been a sweet and moving affair, What to Expect falls short. It is entertaining enough, but personally I think Knocked Up had more genuine humour and heart. And that’s saying something, as that film had people fake humping each other’s heads.
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