The Brothers Grimsby

I consider the moments when I unexpectedly snorted with laughter at Grimsby to be some of the darkest moments of my life, but then again, there's a bit of the Australopithecus running through everyone's genome. Otherwise, the no-frills humor and total surrendering of basic standards of taste aren't exactly the main problem. The stumbling block is not the content of the individual jokes, but their form. After most of them, we get a second to laugh (even with the music suddenly turned off, for example) and you get the impression that someone must have cut the film at the last minute to remove a funny face and studio cackle from Cohen after each one. Maybe that's why the film is thankfully an endurable 80 minutes. Compared to the previous two pieces in last year's trio of spy parodies (Kingsman, Spy), Grimsby surprisingly doesn't manage much in the way of action, which amounts to (not just compared to the perfect Hardcore Henry) snoozing POV or haphazardly cut fight scenes, where especially with Scott Adkins fight it’s a real letdown since the guy is such a badass that there's no need to cover anything up at all. Which actually matches the film's main problem, which is that parodying spy movies takes a back seat to Cohen's buffoonery throughout the entire film, which must have been a post-production decision given the untapped potential of many of the characters (the activation of Agent Chilcott in particular has an introduction like a rap song, but that storyline completely fizzles out). In short, a bummer. But there's always Rebel Wilson taking her shirt off again, so... (2016-06-29)

Some really juicy and delicious jokes (Radcliffe and Trump, "Do you have to shoot at everything?!") side by side with Mr. Cohen's overt sexual deviance and all manner of anal exploitation, which, while it makes you laugh heartily now and then, is life-threatening to eat with the film, watch it after a romantic dinner, and sometimes just watch it – things have been going downhill with Cohen and his originality since Borat, straight towards constantly surpassing the extremes of imaginary comedic (dis)taste, but on the other hand, after the terrible Bruno, Sacha manages to produce a story that holds together and, by engaging A-list actors, proves that the film world simply can’t find a more entertaining and flashy presentation of boorishness and imbecility anywhere else than his. A big thumbs up to Mark Strong, who also knows how to make a proper joke out of himself and obviously enjoyed this unprecedented ass-riding as much as I did for the most part. 65% (2016-06-27)

Sacha Baron Cohen once again boldly pushes the boundaries of film humor and tests what else the audience can endure. I had a really good time, although I admit that for many people, it will be hard to tolerate this film. For some it may be Comedy of the Year, for others embarrassing and disgusting hogwash. I recommend the film especially if you have a sense for black, vulgar and incorrect humor, you often go to the cinema, you've seen and can endure a lot of stuff, you find most comedies to be not very good or harsh enough, and you liked Cohen's previous films. The Cohen - Strong brotherly duo works great. (2016-03-10)

This was a really wild ride! Filled with fecal humor, offbeat action, village boors, disgusting obscenities, allusions to sexual minorities and practices, and in fact sex in general, and featuring scenes that you're unlikely to find in any other movie (the elephant mating and poison vs. testicles, for example), unless Sacha Baron Cohen is starring or writing the script again. Surprisingly, the seemingly mismatched lead pairing of Cohen and Jeremy Strong ended up having some chemistry, and as a result, the two actors complemented each other well. The supporting cast also amused me, in particular about Rebel Wilson ("I'm not pregnant. I'm just fucking fat!") and Gabourey Sidibe. I was also amused by the fake-cameos of Daniel Radcliffe and Donald Trump, as well as the allusions to the characters' resemblance to real persons. In short, a film that isn't quite for everyone, as the level of fecklessness occasionally went sky-high, but nonetheless, I was personally amused (and even disgusted). (2016-08-01)

Sacha Baron Cohen goes a little farther (or, ahem, deeper) with each film, and this time it was a little too far (deep) for my tastes in places. But what can I say, I had more fun than with Bruno and a bit more than with The Dictator, and I think that once in a while a comedy like this doesn't hurt either. My admiration goes to Mark Strong, who went all in. (2020-02-04)