"The Dictator" will continue comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's streak of offending various groups of people. His movie will also cause intermittent bouts of heavy laughter.

Ditching the mockumentary style of "Borat" and "Bruno" in favor of a straightforward plot, Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles use more traditional storytelling methods to ridicule and disgust on the basis of race, gender and sexual orientation.

Even at a trim 85 minutes, however, the humor in "The Dictator" never settles on a specific target. That's kind of important to a movie that all but announces itself as social commentary.

Baron Cohen plays Admiral General Aladeen, the ruthless dictator of the fictional North African country of Wadiya. He hates America, yearns for pointy nuclear weaponry and orders all who disagree with him to be executed.

His treacherous second-in-command (an underutilized Ben Kingsley) hatches a plan to have Aladeen assassinated before a big speech to the United Nations. Instead, Aladeen is stripped of his signature beard and sent out into New York City, with a body double taking his place at the U.N. A bleeding-heart hippie (Anna Faris) mistakes Aladeen for a Wadiya refugee and offers him a job at her co-op.

And so it's a verbal clash between the bigot and the Bohemian, with Baron Cohen spending half the movie making fun of Faris' hairy armpits and stinky all-natural deodorant.

The trailers for "The Dictator" serve as a warning to those still queasy about terrorism and 9/11 jokes. Most of it is too outlandish to be especially offensive, remembering that Baron Cohen's Aladeen also carries bricks and bananas in his pockets for no apparent reason.

The biggest laughs come from the comedian's effort to make any outlandish situation work. Aladeen's hateful commentary about women, democracy and various "lesser" races are outbursts of an idiot, like Cartman, Archie Bunker, and in many ways, Baron Cohen's own Borat.

Toward the end, "The Dictator" even provides some potent observations on the essential differences between dictatorship and some democracies.

Unfortunately, Baron Cohen can't help but try and top his grossest antics. The sex and bodily fluid humor really grows tiresome here. For every clever social critique, there's Baron Cohen losing his cell phone in a pregnant woman's womb. Who really laughs at this gross stuff anymore?

In his starring vehicles, Baron Cohen will always be an acquired taste, and the tendency toward sketch-like humor will eventually lead to more misses than hits. "The Dictator" is just funny enough to overcome all the things that don't work. Hopefully someone can shake the comedian of his worst habits before the next one.

Grade: B-

Ticket Stubs is sponsored by the Hayden Cinema Six Theater. Showtimes at HaydenCinema6.com. Tyler Wilson can be reached at [email protected]. Read more reviews at NormdogEntertainment.com.