General Aladeen is the lead character in this outrageous political comedy, a vicious militant dictator in the North African nation of Wadiya. He is a wacky over-the-top figure, politically incorrect in every way, and he is a big fan of casual torture and murder of his opponents. He proudly is attempting to build nuclear weapons to take out Israel, but when the United Nations threatens to intervene, Aladeen decides to go to New York to explain himself. However, when he arrives in New York, his uncle has him kidnapped, shaved, and replaced by a lookalike... but when the kidnapper sets himself on fire, Aladeen is let loose in New York, but without his trademark big bushy beard, so no one recognizes him in the entire city. He finds Nadal, a former worker for him, and recruits him to help him try to fit into the big city more easily. He starts working at a natural health shop run by hippies, led by a hardcore feminist activist named Zoey, whose belief are ironically the exact opposite of Aladeen's. He begins learning that women are not just objects at his disposal and starts to fall in love with Zoey. Unfortunately, Zoey finds out who he really is, which puts a strain on their blossoming love, especially when Aladeen reveals he wants to stop his wicked uncle and re-claim his country. He must find a way to get to the United Nations, convince the world that he is the real dictator, avoid his uncle, and get Zoey to fall in love with him once again.
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Best part of story, including ending:
This is a raucous comedy, full of laughs from beginning to end. It's not the most meticulously plotted film, and some jokes fall flat, but there's plenty of hilarious political satire to be found.
Best scene in story:
Towards the end, Aladeen makes a big speech at the UN building, where he unintentionally draws many parallels between his own rule of Wadiya and how the president has ruled over the United States, in a clever bit of political comedy.
Opinion about the main character:
Aladeen occasionally seems wacky just for the sake of being wacky, so the consistency of our enjoyment of his comedic antics wavers. However, Cohen is a gifted performer who keeps our attention and keeps us laughing.
