One thing The Dictator is not – is British | Film | guardian.co.uk Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off Jump to content [s] Jump to comments [c] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8] Edition: UK US Sign in Mobile Your profile Your details Your comments Your clippings Your lists Sign out Mobile About us About us Contact us Press office Guardian Print Centre Guardian readers' editor Observer readers' editor Terms of service Privacy policy Advertising guide Digital archive Digital edition Guardian Weekly Buy Guardian and Observer photos Today's paper The Guardian G2 features Comment and debate Editorials, letters and corrections Obituaries Other lives Sport Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe to the Guardian iPhone app iPad edition Kindle Extra Guardian Weekly Digital edition All our services The Guardian Film User comments News Sport Comment Culture Business Money Life & style Travel Environment Tech TV Video Dating Offers Jobs Culture Film The Dictator Next Previous Blog home One thing The Dictator is not – is British It may be a home-grown offering, but Sacha Baron Cohen's film about an Arabic despot is firmly embedded in the language of one culture … US comedy Share Tweet this Email Coming to HBO … The Dictator. Photograph: Allstar/Paramount Pictures Among the various, largely ethno-centric comments on Peter Bradshaw's review of The Dictator , one reader accuses our critic of bumping up his star rating of the film based on nationality : The Dictator Production year: 2012 Country: USA Cert (UK): 15 Runtime: 83 mins Directors: Larry Charles Cast: Anna Faris, Fred Melamed, Jeff Grossman, John C. Reilly, Kevin Corrigan, Megan Fox, Sacha Baron Cohen, Sir Ben Kingsley More on this film "So does this one get another bonus star for being British? Your unfortunate cultural nationalism is sticking out a bit again, Peter" Leaving aside the absurdity of this, what @Drewv throws into relief is just how un-British The Dictator feels. Not because it's about an Arabic despot, doesn't mention the UK and takes place either in North Africa or New York. But because its whole sensibility shows how far, in comedy terms, the world has shifted away from such distinctions; even become oddly homogeonous. If this film has a nationality, you'd list it as HBO. All Sacha Baron Cohen 's credited co-writers come direct from Curb your Enthusiasm (which Baron Cohen cameoed in); not to mention his director. JB Smoove (aka Leon) has a bit part; as does Garry Shandling, another big daddy in the HBO ancestry. It's not just personnel, it's soul: the squeamish straight-talking, the gleeful envelope-pushing. Actual gags, too. The scene in which two characters go gooey-eyed while fishing around inside a heavily pregnant woman for a baby and a mislaid mobile phone takes inspiration from the Curb episode in which Richard Lewis's nurse stows stolen goodies (including a phone) in the same orifice . The speech in which the dictator explains the virtues of his despotic regime to UN officials and then, inspired by the sight of the woman he's fallen for, explains that though democracy might be flawed, have hairy armpits and should lose five pounds, he loves it all the same, is a nod to a similar address made at an international peace summit at the end of Team America . So: yes, Baron Cohen is British, as is co-star Ben Kingsley, and part of the deal his production company has struck with distributors Paramount includes a clause to try and foster home-grown talent. And, if you so desired, you could take national pride or shame in his work on that basis. But one of Baron Cohen's key achievements – despite the honed cultural specificity of his characters, despite the force field of charged religious debate that surrounds his work – has been in making his actual nationality almost irrelevant. Posted by Catherine Shoard Friday 11 May 2012 13.21 BST guardian.co.uk Jump to comments ( … ) Print this Share Contact us Send to a friend Sender's name Recipient's email address Your IP address will be logged Share Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/37g74 StumbleUpon reddit Tumblr Digg LinkedIn Google Bookmarks del.icio.us livejournal Facebook Twitter Contact us Contact the Film editor film.editor@ guardianunlimited.co.uk Report errors or inaccuracies: reader@guardian.co.uk Letters for publication should be sent to: letters@guardian.co.uk If you need help using the site: userhelp@guardian.co.uk Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 Advertising guide License/buy our content Article history About this article One thing The Dictator is not – is British This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 13.21 BST on Friday 11 May 2012 . It was last modified at 15.05 BST on Friday 11 May 2012 . Film Sacha Baron Cohen · Comedy Culture More from Film blog on Film Sacha Baron Cohen · Comedy More blogposts More on this story The week in film - in pictures Sacha Baron Cohen is the man with the golden gun at the UK premiere of The Dictator while Rihanna rocks the US premiere of Battleship The Dictator: 'Brave, insensitive, funny and horrible' - video review The Dictator – review Sacha Baron Cohen's The Dictator interviewed by Larry King - video Sacha Baron Cohen avoids Oscars ceremony after red-carpet stunt Ashes to ashes: Sacha Baron Cohen's red carpet moment Sacha Baron Cohen empties urn of 'Kim Jong-il's ashes' over Ryan Seacrest on Oscars red carpet Next Previous Blog home Share Tweet this Email Comments Click here to join the discussion . We can't load the discussion on guardian.co.uk because you don't have JavaScript enabled . 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