44
Metascore
8 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweThe Hollywood ReporterJustin LowePlayful, irreverent and unafraid to be politically incorrect, the pair script with assurance and direct with stylish understatement, pairing character and physical comedy to entertaining effect.
- 75RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsRogerEbert.comSimon AbramsThe just-shy-of-great teen comedy Dear Dictator is the rare high-concept coming-of-age story with enough warmth and smart-ass charm to (hopefully!) make it accessible for a fairly wide cross-section of moviegoers.
- 50Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreIf the filmmakers were as ballsy in scripting it as they had in asking Michael Caine to co-star in it, they’d have had something.
- 50VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyPleasant enough to watch, even innocuous, Dear Dictator is something that gets worse the more you think about it.
- 40Village VoiceTatiana CraineVillage VoiceTatiana CraineAlthough the filmmakers name-check and appear to draw inspiration from Mean Girls, they’ve missed the mark on truly biting satire, leaving Dear Dictator toothless and silly.
- 40The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisThe New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisSimultaneously preposterous and dull, Dear Dictator is the kind of movie where music and wardrobe choices — like the mean girls’ stridently visible underwear — substitute for character.
- 38Slant MagazineWes GreeneSlant MagazineWes GreeneThe potential comic absurdities of the premise are squandered as soon as the film settles into a tepid coming-of-age tale.
- 20Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinLos Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinThe cast, including Jason Biggs as a dorky social studies teacher, does what it can with the toothless, painfully unfunny, thoroughly unconvincing material. How some movies get made is truly a mystery.