Paramount Still Editing The Dictator Amid Rumours of Flop

WhatCulture understands that Paramount Pictures are still editing their forthcoming comedy "The Dictator" less than two weeks before the film is set to be released in UK and US cinemas on May 16th. Press screenings for the film are said to be in doubt and we understand that Paramount could be re-cutting the film all the way up until May 10th, just one week before release, and to the day when the studio will unveil the comedy at regional UK premieres across the country. After extremely mixed reactions to the trailers and the marketing materials released to date, we are hearing that Paramount are concerned that a "fish out of water" comedy about a Sadamm Hussein-style ruler who, as Paramount put it, "risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed", may be too "out there" a concept for audiences and that the film isn't tracking as well as they would have hoped. British comedy actor Sacha Baron Cohen and his director Larry Charles, who together made the mockumentaries Borat and Bruno, went in a different direction with The Dictator which, from the trailer at least, is much less about Cohen's ability to improvise in-character and make real life people the butt of the joke, but about making a Hollywood style outrageous comedy. The production features more studio like-camerawork, scripted dialogue, with the supporting cast of Oscar winner Ben Kingsley and Anna Faris giving the film a "Hollywood" gloss that Borat and Bruno, with their extremely low-budget, firsthand camerawork and cast of unknowns did not feature. What Culture would love to hear from its readers on their thoughts about The Dictator. Just two weeks before release, are you excited about the film and do you plan on making the trip to see it?