I recently saw the theatrical trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen‘s The Dictator in front of my screening of Underworld Awakening at which they showed what I believe were seven trailers. I typically do everything I can to avoid trailers, but fortunately those that were being shown were either for films I had already seen or those I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to seeing. In the case of The Dictator, the trailer didn’t do anything to get me interested.
Featuring Cohen as the dictator of the Republic of Wadiya who risks his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed. The script was inspired by the best selling novel “Zabibah and The King” by Saddam Hussein and was written by Cohen and “Seinfeld” alums Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer and co-stars Ben Kingsley, Anna Faris, John C. Reilly, Megan Fox and B.J. Novak.
The Super Bowl trailer below essentially offers nothing the original trailer didn’t provide, just in a condensed form. The hope, and expectation, of course, is that we are only being shown what’s acceptable for trailers and the film will hopefully offer much more. However, you tell me, does this make you laugh?
