Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Dear Dictator Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 23, 2018

The plot conceit underlying Dear Dictator may seem positively ridiculous, but my ever aware and incredibly well informed wife alerted me to the fact that a young female denizen of her home state of Wisconsin had in fact actually written to a notorious tyrant and become pen pals with him decades ago, something that may have offered a spark of inspiration for this film's married co-writers and co-directors, Lisa Addario and Joe Syracuse. That little girl was named Sarah York and the dictator in that case was one Manuel Noriega, but much like the setup in Dear Dictator, Sarah’s “relationship” with the far off leader was evidently sparked at least in part by Noriega’s fashion sense, such as it was. Dear Dictator posits a snarky teen named Tatiana Mills (Odeya Rush) who reaches out to dictator Anton Vincent (Michael Caine) as part of an assignment from her social studies teacher Mr. Spines (Jason Biggs), and is delighted when the leader, under the throes of an incipient rebellion in his home country, takes the time to reply to her, finding her letters a bastion of calm in his troubled world. If the foundational premise of Dear Dictator is based in fact, or at least has a real life counterpart to make it seem reasonably real, what happens next is the stuff of fairy tales, albeit of the “fractured” sort featured on the old Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends show. Tatiana, attempting to navigate the roiling world of a high school filled with Mean Girls, and also sparring regularly with her divorced mother Darlene (Katie Holmes), is amazed to find Vincent at her home one evening, after the dictator somehow gets to the United States (in an elision which is never really adequately explained) in the wake of an overthrow of his government orchestrated by the United States.

Dear Dictator has a lot on its plate, content wise, with a number of sidebars that intrude into the main story of Tatiana and Vincent entering a conspiracy of sorts which Vincent hopes will return him to power in his own country and Tatiana hopes will elevate her to the apex of her high school’s popularity structure. Among the kind of odd if occasionally amusing subplots is a fairly long one devoted to Darlene’s seemingly eternal quest for Mr. Wrong, one that has found its latest candidate in her boss, a dentist with a foot fetish named Charles Seaver (Seth Green). Tatiana has romantic woes of her own, with one of her few friends (perhaps her only friend) being a devout Christian named Denny (Jackson Beard) with whom she jams in a garage band. (In one of the film’s best gags, Denny reacts with appropriate chastity when Tatiana attempts to kiss him, and then launches into a punk anthem about rape as if nothing had happened.)

But that very surplus of material may keep Dear Dictator from ever sustaining any comedic momentum. There’s actually quite a lot to like about this film, chief among the pleasures the weird but ingratiating performances by Caine, Rush and Holmes in particular, but the story keeps darting off on tangents so that it feels like nothing ever hits a direct bullseye. There are certainly enjoyable enough gags, including a running (perhaps more appropriately tripping) bit of slapstick involving Tatiana’s insanely oversized goth boots, and another bit of prop related comedy in terms of a wig and mustache Vincent dons to go out in public, a disguise that makes him look uncomfortably like a close relative of another famous dictator, a guy named Adolf Hitler or something like that. But some of the other material, including the whole foot fetish thing with the dentist, just is flat out bizarre, likely to provoke laughs of discomfort if any at all.

There’s also a perhaps troubling subtext to some of the plot proceedings. It might have been one thing had Vincent been an inept despot a la The Great Dictator, but for all intents and purposes, the screenplay posits him as rather ruthlessly effective in taking care of his political enemies (while resolutely refusing the needs of his people). That puts all of his machinating with Tatiana to get her to the top of the high school power structure in a somewhat different light, one that may not in fact evince that much laughter. Darlene’s near crush on him as well (once she finds out he’s hiding in her home) may chafe at times, since it seems so curiously inauthentic feeling from any number of standpoints (she more or less “appoints” Vincent as her Mr. Fix It, in terms of a home repair list, but that begs the question as to how a revolutionary would know how to get an electric garage door working again).

Still, there are some effective moments here, and there’s a commendable feeling shared that if folks can learn to live together under one roof, then even epochal world problems can be worked out, if only people learn to understand each other and listen to each other. That message may not need an infamous dictator to deliver it, but it’s worthwhile no matter how it arrives.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf was considerably less pleased with Dear Dictator than even I was. You can read Brian's thoughts here.

Dear Dictator Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dear Dictator is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinedigm with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is a solid if never really overwhelming presentation of a typically digitally captured feature, one whose visual qualities may never really rise to "wow" heights, but one where detail levels are generally quite pleasing in terms of things like Vincent's scraggly beard (in earlier scenes) or some of the fabrics on costumes. There's a kind of candy colored patina to several scenes, notably some of the dentist office material, where Dolores' bright yellow smock really pops vividly. Some stock footage, supposedly documenting the revolution in Vincent's home country, and some pretty astoundingly bad looking effects work that is either shoddy rear projection or equally shoddy digital matte work may in fact evoke more laughter than some of the actual writing.

Dear Dictator Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dear Dictator's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track attains some energy from Tatiana's love of punk music, and there are also several scenes in crowded environments like the school or a local mall where immersion is quite well handled. A lot of the film plays out in relatively more subdued dialogue scenes, however, and here a lot of the activity tends to be anchored front and center. Fidelity is fine, with no damage or distortion of any kind to report.

Dear Dictator Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements included on this Blu-ray disc.

Dear Dictator Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I personally kind of wished Dear Dictator had played things decidedly more darkly, with Tatiana becoming even more of a despot herself as she wrestles her way up the high school hierarchy. Instead, Dear Dictator wants to have its snark and sweetness in about equal amounts, and I'm not sure that makes for an ultimately satisfying combination. Caine, Rush and Holmes are all fine in their roles, and fans of the performers may well want to check this out. Technical merits are fine if uninspiring for those considering a purchase.