5. The Dictator 
Why It Should Have Been Great: After striking comedy gold not once but twice with Borat and Brüno (we'll just ignore Ali G Indahouse for now, shall we?), the fearlessly funny Sacha Baron Cohen took on a more foreboding disguise: playing the intolerant but all-powerful leader of a fictional North African republic, currently on a state visit to the US. But, you know, for laughs.
Why It Wasn't: The trailers had made it crystal clear. This was not to be a mockumentary, a format that had fit Cohen and director Larry Charles' previous collaborations like a glove, but instead a scripted comedy. Immediately, this robbed the film of its volatility - a characteristic that, until now, had unquestionably been part of the fun. And so no matter how jaw-droppingly offensive General Admiral Aladeen may be, he's not out to provoke the man on the (New York) street; here, he's cocooned in the comfort of other actors: kidnapped by John C. Reilly and then hired by Anna Faris. Had Cohen kept the hidden camera routine and simply wandered around America claiming to be a real political leader, then perhaps this film would have made more of an impact.