The Dictator Super Bowl Spot: General Aladeen Has Bought NBC

A lot of movies will shell out for lavish TV spots to promote their big upcoming blockbusters during the Super Bowl-- after all, if you're trying to promote The Avengers or John Carter, a lot of your target audience is going to be watching the big game. But the upcoming Sacha Baron Cohen comedy The Dictator is taking a slightly scrappier approach, editing in a special Super Bowl message among footage we've already seen in the film's first trailer. Paramount's Netherlands arm posted the full spot online, so check it out below.

There's something nice about how short and sweet this is, and the gag in which Baron Cohen's dictator General Aladeen runs a footrace and shoots all his competition still makes me laugh. I can't help but feel like they could have done a little bit more to tailor this ad toward the Super Bowl, though. It's the biggest day of the year for TV advertising, and all kinds of companies come up with footage specifically for the football watching audience. There seem to be a million comic opportunities with a vicious dictator addressing the American people directly, but all Baron Cohen does is tell us he's bought NBC and already knows the score of the game. It's funny, but couldn't they have gone a bit further with it?

With his comment on the death of Kim Jong-Il and Baron Cohen's general penchant for making his comedy seem all-too-real, The Dictator seems perfectly poised to pull some other kind of Super Bowl stunt, which is now exactly what I'm hoping for. The Dictator opens in theaters on May 11.

Katey Rich

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend