Sasha Baron Cohen is the psychopathic ruler of a country under
UN sanctions for developing weapons grade uranium which it insists is for
medical research only and would never be used to attack Israel. (Sound familiar?) Through implausible
circumstances, he ends up in a Prince and the Pauper situation, and must find a
way to return to power.
In addition to ridiculing Ahmadinejad and Gaddafi, Cohen takes
swipes at sexism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and hypocrisy in the USA. The rest of the time he clowns around.
As in Naked Gun and Airplane, plot consistency takes second
place to the jokes. In a similar vein,
realism in character traits is freely sacrificed for humor, though the end shows
a personality change which I realized only later was supposed to be funny, not
maudlin.
Like in Borat, he has anti-Semites speak in Hebrew, which I
think is funny, though most people won't recognize the language (it's loosely
translated). There's also a fair amount of Arabic, which I couldn't understand
and which wasn't translated, but which isn't essential to the plot. Unlike
Borat and Bruno, all the characters seem to be actors; he doesn't film
unsuspecting bystanders this time.
Many of the comments made by the characters are highly
offensive, but it's always a negative character who delivers these comments.
Cohen is ridiculing the attitude that leads to these comments, not supporting
them.
The music is stirring and helps raise the pulse, but is
forgettable.
I laughed out loud in several places, but his humor isn't
for everyone. Some of the jokes are
incredibly gross. For example, in one
scene, he's delivering a baby and puts his hand in the wrong opening. In
comparison, the humor in his movie Borat is sophisticated and tasteful. If you don't like fart jokes, you won't enjoy
this movie.
To me, it was funny. I give it ++++. It raised my pulse as much as a run
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