Sacha Baron Cohen (Melinda Sue Gordon/Paramount Pictures)

Two films opening in town this week reveal different creative approaches to oppressive regimes. This is Not a Film, which I’ll review on Friday, was clandestinely made by an Iranian filmmaker who, because of his support for the opposition party, was sent to prison and forbidden to make films for twenty years. Filmmakers in Iran and around the world have rallied to support his continued work. The Dictator is the end product of a publicity machine that reached its peak in the buildup to the Academy Awards, which Sacha Baron Cohen was forbidden to attend in character. It’s obvious which of these is the more admirable and courageous political statement. But which is the more entertaining? The answer is as embarrassing as the movie is offensive. But not as funny.

Cohen’s comedic rise, with characters like Ali G, Borat and Bruno, was based on a candid camera model. The actor confronted unsuspecting marks in character and forced them to deal with the stereotype he presented, which often led to uncomfortable hilarity. But the more famous Cohen became, the harder it was to work in disguise. His latest project is a departure only in the sense that it’s completely scripted. But the tone will be familiar to his fans: the kind of sacred cow barbecue that makes the audience squirm as it’s laughing.

Cohen stars as Admiral General Aladeen, leader of Wadiya, a North African nation whose borders fit somewhere over Egypt and Sudan. First impressions of the admiral-general are not amusing. Aladeen is introduced as a leader who arranges his own Olympic games, shooting down other track runners, and playing video games based on the Munich Olympics. His second in command Tamir, who is the true heir to the Dictatorship, greets Aladeen by kissing his raised armpits. That Tamir is played by Ben Kingsley seems mean, not unlike the mean spirit that makes Borat and Bruno cross a line for many people. But somehow the movie, while still making sure to offend any given demographic, rights itself by becoming of all things, a romantic comedy cum political satire.

Sacha Baron Cohen and Anna Faris. (Melinda Sue Gordon/Paramount Pictures)

Tamir arranges for Aladeen to travel to New York to deliver a speech at the United Nations, but this trip to New York becomes a failed assassination attempt. Tamir replaces Aladeen with the simple-minded double Efawadh, who enjoys a dictator’s privileges while the real oppressor is mistaken for the oppressed by a vegan feminist who couldn’t be called anything but Zoey (Anna Faris).

It doesn’t sound promising, I know. But the powerful Aladeen is soon revealed to be pretty helpless, sheltered by a lifetime of having others do everything for him, and I do mean everything. The oppressor/protestor dynamic is a neat twist on the rom-com trope that the fated couple is from two different worlds. As offensive as The Dictator can be, the scripted discomfort may be less offensive than Cohen’s usual kind. Granted, no script can make a comfortable scenario out of Ben Kingsley kissing Sacha Baron Cohen’s raised armpits in greeting, but unlike the usual marks, Kingsley is a Compensated Professional Entertainer. Is this a comment on the oppressive nature of entertainment?

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The Dictator
Directed by Larry Charles
Written by Sacha Baron Cohen, Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Jeff Schaffer
With Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kingsley, Anna Faris.
Running time 83 minutes
Rated R for strong crude and sexual content, brief male nudity, language and some violent images.