Don't Mess With The Zohan

It’s been a long time since Sacha Baron Cohen has starred in a movie of his own making. I know this because I haven’t heard an American fraternity brothers/out of touch co-workers quoting him in a few years. Ah, what bliss it’s been. But brace yourselves, because next summer, HE’S BACK. And not in his typical guerilla improv way either. This time, it’s a scripted movie written by Cohan and former Seinfeld scribe Alec Berg, called The Dictator. The film follows Cohen as he plays an evil Middle Eastern dictator named General Aladeen who visits America only to hate our every custom. Now, I know they always say that movie studios put every single funny part of a film in the trailer, and once they lure you into a theater seat, the movie actually sucks. Curly Sue, I’m looking at you.


But I really hope that’s not the case here. Only because… well, I didn’t find myself rolling in cubicle aisles as I did with both Borat and Bruno. It’s possible Mr. Belvedere’s AIDS joke has ruined all other AIDS jokes for me, or it’s possible that this one just isn’t funny. And a hairy Kardashian joke ain’t bad (made to Megan Fox, no less – she’s actually good in this!), but I guess my fear is that this movie will go the way of You Don’t Mess With The Zohan: Hilarious first 50 minutes, and then painful romantic comedy ending in an effort to force some kind of plot into the thing.*