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The Dictator

The Dictator

Comedy · 2012

The heroic story of a dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.

Movie details

The Dictator

“Make way for Aladeen.”

2012 Comedy 1h 23m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.2 / 10

Community rating

The heroic story of a dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Dictator?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Larry Charles

Written by

Sacha Baron Cohen · Alec Berg · David Mandel · Jeff Schaffer

Sacha Baron Cohen

Sacha Baron Cohen

Aladeen / Efawadh

Ben Kingsley

Ben Kingsley

Tamir

Anna Faris

Anna Faris

Zoey

Jason Mantzoukas

Jason Mantzoukas

Nadal

Sayed Badreya

Sayed Badreya

Omar

Adeel Akhtar

Adeel Akhtar

Maroush

Aasif Mandvi

Aasif Mandvi

Doctor

Court is in session

Put The Dictator on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Popcorn Loyalist

“It owes the canon nothing.”

The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.

The prosecution The Big-Idea Head

“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”

It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.