'The Dictator' rules ruthlessly with Sacha Baron Cohen fans

This "Dictator" isn't the great one, but he has deep respect for the inspirational role models who've come before, as his film's dedication makes clear: "In loving memory of Kim Jong Il," a dear leader who died as he lived -- in three-inch heels.

Admiral General Aladeen is the ruthless ruler-for-life of Wadiya, an oil-rich African nation that looks suspiciously like Sacha Baron Cohen-land. Aladeen inherited that job at age 6, when his father was killed in a freak hunting accident (involving 97 stray bullets and a hand grenade).

Not that he lacks credentials of his own: Aladeen boasts 118 honorary doctorates and a diploma in spray tanning from Qatar Community College. He is also a world-class runner -- winner of his own Olympics, in which he traditionally fires the starting gun and keeps it, while running, to shoot competitors during the race.

Back at the palace, after a hard day's executions of people who disagree with him, Aladeen is a sexual dynamo: We and the camera enter his boudoir as Megan Fox -- the real-life one -- makes a hasty exit. The bedroom wall is covered with Polaroid photos of his celebrity conquests (including Ellen DeGeneres and Arnold Schwarzenegger).

But enough deep background. Most pressing, at the moment, is that Aladeen has been summoned by the United Nations to address concerns that Wadiya is just months away from developing nuclear weapons. He agrees to go, but, like all top-tier tyrants, needs a new body double to stand in for him and be assassinated in New York. His treacherous and corrupt henchman Tamir (Ben Kingsley -- a dead ringer for Hamid Karzai) locates a dimwit dead ringer for Aladeen to pass off at the big UN gig.

How broad is this farce? Extreeemely broad -- even broader than "Borat" (2006) or "Bruno" (2009). Mr. Cohen's Aladeen is a hybrid of Saddam Hussein, Moammar Gadhafi and Soupy Sales on methamphetamines. His enormous Kramer fright wig and equally enormous Castro fright beard are functionally reversible.

Once in New York and shorn of shrubbery, he looks like a mutant cross between Abby Hoffman and Frank Zappa. There, he runs into his ex-chief nuclear scientist (Jason Mantzoukas), whom he thought he had executed, among the Wadiyan refugees at Manhattan's popular Death to Aladeen restaurant. Later, he is rescued from an anti-Aladeen rally by spunky Zoey (Anna Faris), vegan-feminist manager of the Free Earth Collective. He falls in love with her, adopts the clever pseudonym "Allison Burgers" and joins her staff -- all leading up to an inevitable absurd climax at the UN.

Along the way, we're sure to find something to grossly offend every race, creed and sexual orientation -- from bad taste 9/11 jokes and "Shoplifters Will Be Waterboarded" signs to the wildly over-the-top scene in which Aladeen assists at an emergency childbirth and asks, "Where's the trash can? It's a girl."

The percentage of vulgarity to perspicacious political satire is about 50-50. Mr. Cohen has made a career of culture clashes -- from Kazakhstani reporter Borat to Austrian fashionista Bruno -- and of his fanatical commitment to fictional characters mucking about in the real world. Director Larry Charles (who also helmed "Borat" and "Bruno" as well as "Curb Your Enthusiasm") tailors everything to his star's hijinks but this time without the mockumentary device: No real people are sought or ridiculed for their reactions.

Production of "The Dictator" actually began in June 2011, well BEFORE the Arab Spring that one might erroneously think inspired it. Its parodic political layers are thus more impressive -- especially in the Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous wardrobe realm. "The way Ahmadinejad dresses is an embarrassment for dictators," sniffs Aladeen. "He looks like a snitch on Miami Vice. Why does he never wear a tie? Is every day in Iran casual Friday? WTF??"

It's vulgar, scatological, semi-obscene and never as funny or fresh as "Borat." But at least Mr. Cohen and Mr. Charles know when enough is enough: The film is a light, tight 84 minutes long. While too extreme for Aunt Thelmah and many mainstream viewers, confirmed Cohen fans and younger audiences will likely savor it. Even at his most jejune, SBC can be a hoot:

"Kim Jong Il did so much for the world. He spread wisdom, compassion and herpes throughout Asia. But he was very bullied at the Axis of Evil meetings."

Why are Kim Jong Il jokes so irresistible? Mr. Cohen's finest comic moment (in real life) was spilling Kim's urn ashes on E! Entertainment's sycophantic Ryan Seacrest and the hallowed red carpet at this year's Oscars. His finest (real dramatic) moment may be forthcoming when he plays Freddie Mercury in a serious biopic scheduled for release in 2013.

I leave you with Aladeen's denial of Wadiya's aggression against its neighbors: "My country has existed for over 7 million years, ever since the dinosaurs were wiped out by the Zionists. And during that whole time, we have never attacked another nation, unless it was an emergency or we were really bored."