Dear Dictator (2017) User Reviews

Pretty good if you know what you're in for

[go_titans · 6/10 · 19 March 2018]

Boy, the other reviews here are scathing, but as far as I'm concerned, this film ain't so bad.

From the opening credits I could see that this movie was extremely low budget and so I set my expectations equally low. In the end I was surprised on two counts: firstly, the film wasn't that bad; and secondly, that 4 of the other 5 reviewers here on IMDB rated it so badly.

The story is ridiculous. A dictator gets overthrown and flees to the US where he knows he can hide with a young girl who has chosen him to be her pen-pal and who he believes will protect him. Choosing Michael Caine for the role is equally ridiculous, as is the rest of the film's story line. But that's what I think the other reviewers here have missed: the whole story is so ridiculous that you cannot take any of it seriously, and it therefore becomes an amusing romp through a series of intentionally absurd scenarios.

This in itself is not enough however, and the actors need to treat the film with just the right amount of enthusiasm to make it work. Caine's acting? He's long been one of my favourites, but in this he doesn't even bother to hide his cockney accent...but who cares! Brilliant acting is not what this film is about, so having Caine in the role becomes an amusement in itself (Caine not even remotely attempting to hide his cockney accent should have tipped off the other reviewers over the intentions of this film). I've never liked Katie Holmes, but in this I thought she was excellent. She had me totally believing in her selfish stupidity, and she appears to have treated this film to a fair degree of effort in bringing her desperate-for-a-man character to life. Odesya also handles herself well, as does Seth Green, and together the four of them manage to make this an entertaining low budget production.

What gets me though is that the other reviewers here seem to have been expecting something greater. Why? The poorly done backdrop of a crowd during Caine's speech made it clear that this film was meant to be a joke, as did his responses to her letters, and I found myself chuckling over the intentional ridiculousness of it all a number of times during the film.

The story is easy to follow, the editing is well handled, the casting was fine, the acting ranged from adequate to really good, so anybody who thinks this film is worth only 1/10 must have only just started watching movies yesterday, having started with Ben Hur. I have seen a hundred films way worse than this, and so I think these low ratings are missing the mark. Trust me, if you recognise the movie for what it's meant to be you should find it fun, and I personally give it a 6/10.

Its a shame

[markhappyboy · 4/10 · 16 March 2018]

A comedy about a Dictator meeting his young female pen pal perhaps has the premise to be a fairly funny film, unfortunately this movie completely misses the mark. As much as I wanted to enjoy this film it simply is not funny and one has to wonder why Sir Michael Cane would find himself co-starring in such a poorly scripted and low budget film.

Enjoyed it

[despondman · 6/10 · 17 October 2018]

Michael Caine plays Anton Vincent, a dictator of a unnamed country, who is overthrown in a coup d'etat, escapes to America and secretly takes refuge in the home of his teenage pen-pal Tatiana (Odeya Rush) and her mother Darlene (Katie Holmes).

I came across this film by accident, was intrigued by its synopsis, so I decided to give it a try and was pleasantly surprised.

The film is not a blockbuster, it is low budget, and low on action, but it is well paced and enjoyable with good performances by its main stars. This is one to watch when you want a gentle film to fill an hour and a half of your time.

Not for everyone maybe, especially action lovers, but well worth a watch.

Easy Money For Caine.

[grey-crow · 1/10 · 19 March 2018]

Michael Caine said of "Jaws: The Revenge": "I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific."

I have a feeling that "Dear Dictator" just paid for a conservatory.

Michael Caine Could Read a Telephone Book

[PretoriaDZ · 5/10 · 25 August 2019]

The movie is mildly amusing. Mr. Caine probably did this for a couple of more reasons than the money. Considering the budget of the movie, he probably was only paid a fraction of what he normally gets these days. I suspect he is not offered a lot of roles these days as Hollywood lacks imagination to write roles for men his age and there is, as has always been, the continued ageism of Hollywood. Mr. Caine may also have been amused by the insight provided by the script into how revolutions are fomented and can even be used to get rid of the top clique in high school. Times change but that part of high school has not. There is ALWAYS a group that revels in making others feel inadequate and there is some voyeur satisfaction in seeing such a group taken down. Regarding my headline, I was expressing my love of Mr. Caine, both for his superb acting and the kind of man he is, intelligent and kind, one who has taken the time all his life to fight racism and other forms of inequality.

Very cool premise ruined by amateur execution.

[MongoLloyd · 2/10 · 20 March 2018]

Such a cool idea ruined by horrible writing, odd casting, and amateurish directing. This is one of those concepts that you have to try really hard to screw up because the potential is SO there to make something cute AND compelling. All I'm left wondering is WHO would have financed such garbage?

I enjoyed it.

[Trupiaar · 7/10 · 10 June 2018]

I think there is a special post-BS 2018 stage that some people have come to, that you may have to be in to enjoy this movie. That having been said, I enjoyed it. Was going in hoping for light fun B movie and was not disappointed. I saw they murdered this movie on tomatoes, which is silly, cause not terrible. Probably it's also notable on afterthought that it was not overly cliche anywhere I recall.

Maybe the first intro to dictator scene could have been done a tad better.

The two starring ladies were believable and fun, and Michael Cain did it just right as far as I'm concerned.

Not the blockbuster of the year or anything, but I laughed enough times for it to be worth it.

A fun film

[Gordon-11 · 18 June 2018]

This film tells the story of a dictator hiding in an American teenage girl's suburban home.

The story is quite far fetched, and I guess that is the charm of the film. Initially I thought even Michael Caine acted poorly, but then I realise he was just in character. It is quite a fun, and hilarious film that provides brain off entertainment.

Disappointing

[carlton_whitney · 5/10 · 1 April 2018]

I saw the previews to this and thought it might actually be a cute movie... i was wrong. When I see Jason Biggs I think of the funny scenes in American pie, this movie had nothing funny. Katie Holmes was just not convincing and I found her character a bit disgusting. I can't believe Mr. Cane agreeded to do this film. In all it was a good movie to waste time to but just wouldn't recommend.

Great cast does an excellent job

[igorashu · 7/10 · 13 April 2018]

Surprisingly, I enjoyed it a lot - even though the premise didn't excite me at first. But, I love mother-daughter movies, especially when the daughter is a snotty but vulnerable teenager. The cast is great, especially the two females leads. Clever and cute - but not too cute. Reminded me of Mrs. Doubtfire - without the drag impersonations.

Needs a new mom character

[suziemarciano · 1/10 · 20 March 2018]

Could have been a sweet story, Michael Caine & the daughter, have some chemistry, but Katie Holmes performance is just awful. Such a shame

What movies need to be again

[britt-zakai · 8/10 · 25 May 2018]

Very sweet. Awesome premise. Good acting. Could be more clever or witty. Obviously. But I love that it's different We need to make more movies like this that takes risks and just follows a different formula

like Rush and Caine

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 27 April 2018]

Tatiana Mills (Odeya Rush) is an American suburban teen. Her single mom Darlene (Katie Holmes) is having an affair with her married dentist boss Dr Charles Seaver (Seth Green) with a foot fetish. The whale-tailed mean girls at school call themselves the Slushies. She has a crush on her Christian friend Denny. Her social studies teacher Mr Spines (Jason Biggs) give the class an assignment to write to a pen pal. She picks ruthless Latin American dictator Anton Vincent (Michael Caine). When American backed rebels overtake his country, he finds his way into Tatiana's garage.

It's a wacky Mean Girls take with a bloody dictator. I'm a little leery of Caine as a Latin American dictator. Rush is a pretty good standard grumpy teen. There are a lot of wackiness but it rarely results in laughs. There are some moments of surprise laughs, mostly with Rush and Caine together. I really like that combo. I do wish for taking on more risk and pushing more comedy into the movie. It does help that I like both Rush and Caine.

Funny, it is not.

[mrcoolboysucks · 1/10 · 10 June 2020]

Laugh once, I didn't. Too short, my review is. Make it longer, I must.

5 Letters, 1 word. AWFUL!

[nigelcummingsuk-52802 · 1/10 · 21 March 2018]

Tragic to see Sir Michael Caine appear in such a lousy movie. Is this poorly scripted effort supposed to be a comedy, a satire, a society commentary, A John Waters tribute? I don't know. As a comedy it is about as funny as smallpox, as a satire it simply does not work, as a social commentary it is offensive! What I have I just tried to watch? I don't really know! What I do know is, this movie stinks! I could not bear to see the ending after I'd wasted 80+ minutes of my life trying to watch this utterly awful concoction. I've given it 1 star, though it really deserves no stars, but I give it one star for two reasons. 1. The fact that Sir Michael Caine is in it, and 2, the fact that one of the cuts in this film, depicts a row of plastic pink flamingos - clearly a nod to the "Great" John Waters, though a John Waters satire it aint! Avoid this film, dont buy it, don't pay to see it, don't attempt to download it, it is hateful!

An embarrassing swan song for Michael Caine

[RuthlessGoat · 1/10 · 29 March 2018]

It has been 18 years since Quills, the last robust accomplishment by Michael Caine. There is no excuse for this movie. Here goes.

Tatiania Mills (Odeya Rush) will dislodge and eat ABC (Already Been Chewed) gum from beneath the water fountain to taunt and gross out her adversaries at school. Sir Michael Caine again does the equivalent to his career by starring in this mindless atrocity. Michael Caine plays a deposed British Caribbean Republic dictator who comes the the U.S. and teams with a high school goth loser. He does this to teach her the ways of revolution so she can overthrow the mean bully girls in her High School.

This movie was supposedly released on March 16, 2018, but I cannot find any statistics where it was shown in any brick and mortar theaters in The United States. Even Box Office Mojo shows no trace of either Dear Dictator or its original title of Coup d'Etat. It is as though it doesn't exist except at rouge movie sites or the inevitable Amazon Prime Video for $6.99, which is $7.00 too much. Other than the sycophant Alfred in the Batman movies, Caine has not done anything meaningful since the masterpiece Quills, and that was almost 2 decades ago. I'm glad that Ebert is not alive to see Caine actually tunnel to a new low after the disaster that was Jaws IV.

Oh my Goat, this movie was horrible on every level. Dictator and Tatiana become pen-pals and the next thing you know, he shows up not on her doorstep, but in her garage. No Problem! Mom is clued in and consents for The Dictator to stay if only he will fix the broken garage door opener. He does, and then in a deeply moving scene, he instructs Tatiana how to overthrow the factions in her High School. Brilliant! Enter the Revolution!

The shock and awe at the Mall was cringe-worthy and the side story of Tatiana's mother and her foot-freaky dentist employer were new lows for cinema... but not as low as the scene where El Dictator sternly lectures Darlene MIlls (Katie Holmes) and daughter about the evils of American society. He then turns into some sort of 85 year-old Gordon Ramsey master chef. I want to die. Not later, but right now. Never in the history of film has anything been as bad as this debacle.

The rest of this movie was irrelevant. It was horrible. ZERO/10.0

Not a bad cast, shame about the movie

[ramonster_uk · 4/10 · 27 March 2018]

Quite a strange movie this one, not quite sure what it was trying to achieve. From the foot fetish dentist and the stalker mistress/mum, a peeping tom school teacher and the dictator who made his way to America to seek refuge with his pen pal (all while in full uniform), this movie was just a bit of hot mess. Strangely, I couldn't stop watching this, perhaps I should of though. The cast is really wasted in this movie, can't see how or why they got involved in this one, the money couldn't have been that good. But to quote Mr Caine "You get paid the same for a bad film as you do for a good one", so maybe he did alright here. You won't laugh much, if at all here. The story is pretty poor and it will leave you questioning how some movies actually get a green light.

Not as bad as some would have you think

[reallytorkedoff-87464 · 6/10 · 4 May 2018]

OK, so there were no superheroes, just Michael Caine as a cranky old dictator and Katie Holmes as a stressed-out mom. It was a bit understated at times, but moved along at a nice, even pace and had some nice acting. The script seems to have been well thought out and there were plenty of (mostly) subtle laughs to be enjoyed. I definitely feel as though my time was well spent watching it.

If you're looking for car chases and explosions, you'll need to look elsewhere, but it's good for its genre.

I enjoyed it.

It's amazing that anyone thought this film was a good idea!

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 17 December 2020]

Tatiana (Odeya Rush) is an annoying disaffected teen. She's a bit gothy...but also she seems to try her best to annoy others. In keeping with this personality, it's not all that surprising that she's developed a new pen pal...General Anton Vincent (Michael Caine). Why is this not that surprising? Well, Vincent is a Castro-style dictator of a small caribbean island....just the sort of brutal guy you'd NOT want your daughter corresponding with....ever! They become friends and exchange quite a few letters....and then the weird part begins. When the General is deposed, he has to go into hiding and ends up living in Tatiana's garage! Talk about an unusual plot for a movie!!

I wasn't that excited to watch this movie. After all, it currently has a very anemic overall score of 5.0 on IMDB and most of the reviewers seem disappointed by it. But, I've recently begun trying to watch all of Michael Caine's films, so I bit the bullet and saw "Dead Dictator". Well, in hindsight I do think the score is highly inaccurate...the movie is much worse!

So what did I dislike about the film? Well, the entire premise is incredibly flawed, silly and offensive in many ways. In fact, it makes you wonder WHO thought the film would be a good idea in the first place! Imagine....a comedy where a teen and her really stupid mother hang out with and have good times with a murderous dictator who gets off torturing people!! What if they had made the guy Idi Amin, Fidel Castro or, perhaps, Joe Stalin?! And yet....it is not only meant to be funny but, in some ways, heartwarming!!

Could such a flawed premise have worked? Yes, though it would have been difficult. They really needed to make the comedy MUCH more comedic and funny. But with "Dear Dictator" it looked as if they weren't even sure if it was supposed to be funny, as there isn't much funny in the film. There's also a strange combination of sentimentality which just didn't fit. To make it worse, the dialog was pretty awful at times. Overall, a film that never should have been made in the first place as it really didn't work AND had little in the way of an audience. It didn't work as a disaffected teen film, a comedy, a romance nor as a drama. In fact...it just didn't work.

Actually liked it more than I thought I would

[brandonssmith2 · 7/10 · 25 September 2018]

Is it life changing? No. Is it a decently fun movie? Absolutely.

Laced with 80's punk makes this movie just a little more fun than you would think. The lead girl is adorable and passes a good focal piece for the picture.

Try again, Odeya Rush

[hellocrocodile · 3/10 · 4 July 2018]

Young actress Odeya Rush seems like she could follow the trajectory of a Mila Kunis - type actress comedienne. She's pretty, gifted and fun to watch, as her facial expressions and moody teenager, deadpan humor are deftly handled. Some of the interactions between her and the mother were genuinely funny. I think the life she injected in her lines is why the film (and its trailer) appear promising at outset.

However, the film ends up being worse than a typical "reality" tv series, and of course, even less realistic. Attempts to address morality and equality are overshadowed by some really weird stunts that are more awkward to watch than they are funny. Seriously, she throws a used tampon at somebody and then gives a girl a thong - wedgie to the point of tearing the undergarment out of the girl's pants. That's the kind of thing that might be good enough for a stupid viral YouTube video, but it doesn't belong in a movie. It no longer shocks us or even entertains us to see things like that, if it ever did.

I think Odeya's talent deserves a better frame than this trashy drama. And I don't need to say what everyone has already said about Michael Caine. We are all shocked that such a fine actor would lend himself to this. His acting is not bad as "The Dictator" but he cannot rescue the movie from its poor storyline and excessive failed attempts at comedy.

The film tries to be shocking, I guess, with the above mentioned scenes and also some explicit foot licking. It tries to be relevant, hip, and interesting to teenagers or whatever, duh. But the people who produced this don't seem to know what makes a good movie, or they don't care. Big names don't save films like this - it only adds up to wasted talent.

Cute movie!

[jmead-39213 · 10/10 · 18 March 2018]

This was a fun indie movie. Love Michael Caine and and Odeya Rush. Funny and ended with heart.

Midly funny movie with a weak script.

[hnapel · 6/10 · 21 March 2018]

This mildly funny movie about an ousted dictator holing up with the daughter of a single mother in a typical suburban environment with the cliché high-school mean girls can only be regarded positively in the sense that it is great learning lesson for upcoming talent Odeya Rush who gets to build experience acting together with an icon such as Michael Caine and to a lesser extent Katie Holmes for which for this performance nobody would start jumping on a couch. Seth Green, apparently added to the cast for his name only (that has been slightly degraded in the process) plays a dentist with a feet fetishism which is an appropriately chosen weirdness that can be safely depicted for the ever perceived sensitivity of the American audience. The dictator, while trying to regain the control of his country starts to educate the high-school-er in subversiveness which she starts to put into practice by overthrowing the realm of the mean girls without much moral concern. There's no explanation given to the fact she has a crush on a religious freak who dives into bed with one of the same mean girls and both are in fact headed for a happy end (save for a neck brace after a failed suicide attempt) when the inevitable happens as the dictator is being apprehended, jailed and extradited. The acting overall isn't bad but the story is weak, these actors deserve a better script.

Nope

[nicholas-morgan-57-529980 · 2/10 · 26 August 2019]

Odeya Rush holds this whole film together from start to finish. Looking forward to seeing more from this talent in the future.

Story was poor, and the first 30 mins I was actually crying out for Michael Caine's career.

It's also one of those films that actually need a mid or end credit scene for punctuation.

Direction - ok

A mediocre farce about fitting in at school with little to recommend

[MrDHWong · 5/10 · 30 August 2018]

Dear Dictator is a comedy film written and directed by Lisa Addario and Joe Syracuse. Starring Michael Caine and Odeya Rush, it is a mediocre farce about fitting in at school with little to recommend.

Tatiana Mills (Odeya Rush), a rebellious American girl, is given an assignment in her social studies class in high school to write a letter to a famous figure that she admires. Tatiana decides to write to Anton Vincent (Michael Caine), an infamous long-reigning island nation dictator, and the two soon become pen pals, much to the concern of her teacher Mr. Spines (Jason Biggs). After being deposed in a coup, Anton sneaks into America to hide out at Tatiana's suburban home, where the two form a grandfather-granddaughter relationship with one another.

Despite some nice familial chemistry between Odeya Rush and Michael Caine and the occasional clever comparison between a rebellion in high school and a rebellion in seizing political control, the humour in this film frequently falls flat. There are several instances where a scene could have been funny but instead the writers opt for something low brow and gross. The film's biggest problem, however, is how dated the overall concept feels. The idea of writing paper letters to pen pals in the late 2010s seems highly archaic in the digital age of the internet. I cannot help but think that this film would have fared better if it was released 15 to 20 years ago, before online communication became as commonplace it is today. This is all likely due to the fact that the film's script was apparently written all the way back in 2006, and even by that time the concept would have still felt outdated.

I rate it 5/10