Review: Grimsby

Sacha Baron Cohen plays well-meaning soccer hooligan Nobby, who has nine children, a girlfriend (Rebel Wilson), and lives in the title working class English town (which also predictably has Ricky Tomlinson among the township). He has, however a piece of himself that has always been missing: His baby brother Sebastian. Adopted into different families and upbringings as children, Nobby has never lost hope that he would one day be reunited with his brother. One day he spots his brother, who is now a top MI6 agent played by Mark Strong, and sets about a happy family reunion. Unfortunately, Nobby being kind of an idiot, fouls up an important mission for Sebastian that forces the two brothers to go into hiding in Grimsby. Much as Sebastian is vehemently opposed to playing happy families, he’s forced by circumstance to stick with his brother as they attempt to foil international terrorism plans. Isla Fisher and Ian McShane work for MI6, Scott Adkins is a Ukranian assassin, Gabourey Sidibe plays a hotel maid (both a racial stereotype and a fat joke waiting to happen), and Penelope Cruz plays a philanthropist with the very Spanish-sounding name of Rhonda George.

 

Look, I didn’t want to like this movie…it just sorta happened. Funny is funny, and for the first time outside of a Martin Scorsese movie, co-writer/star Sacha Baron Cohen made me laugh in this 2016 Louis Leterrier (“Unleashed”, the underrated caper “Now You See Me”) action-comedy. Whether some form of mental illness is involved on my part is to be determined at a later date, but I certainly didn’t have fun with his previous vehicles “Borat”, “Bruno”, or “The Dictator”.

 

The laughs start early when we hear the names of Nobby’s brother Sebastian’s childhood heroes. Even funnier are the names of Nobby’s children and grandchildren. However, be warned: A child with HIV and a cop are among the severely wounded or dead in the opening 10 minutes. Then ‘Daniel Radcliffe’ ingests the kid’s blood and contracts HIV himself (Later on a certain celebrity-turned-world leader meets the same fate). Political correctness does not exist in this dojo, and I surprised myself by finding quite a lot of it shamefully funny.

 

Cohen and a very game Mark Strong look surprisingly alike, and are convincing as two very different brothers. Hell, as much as I find Aussie comedienne Rebel Wilson a one-trick pony of questionable quality, I have to admit she’s well-cast and disgustingly funny here too. That probably surprised me more than anything. God help me, this film was finding ways to entertain me that I thought impossible. I’d call the poison-sucking scene crude, disgusting and shameless except that I was too busy laughing. I did however think there was a particularly lame way to get Strong temporarily out of action, and the roles afforded Ian McShane and Isla Fisher (AKA Cohen’s Aussie ex-pat missus) were rather crummy. Also, Penelope Cruz neither looks nor sounds like a Rhonda or a George let alone a Rhonda George, so I’m not sure what the hell her casting was about there. So it wasn’t all cylinders firing here. I could’ve done without the bit where Cohen and Strong hide up an elephant’s arse since Jim Carrey already did something similar in the terrible “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls” (“Freddy Got Fingered” later did something similar too), but…once again Cohen did indeed get a laugh out of me with it. I hate myself, but it’s true. Scott Adkins yet again proves to be far less effectively utilised in theatrically released films than direct-to-DVD ones. Cast as an assassin here he provides good spin-kicking as usual and Cohen calling him ‘Ukrainian Ben Affleck’ is funny, but he’s hardly in the film and says practically nothing. If Hollywood doesn’t start giving him his shot soon, he’ll be too old to be an action star (He’s probably versatile enough to be more than just an action guy, but it’s clearly his strong suit).

 

A soft recommendation, but a recommendation nonetheless this is the only SBC vehicle I’ve thus far enjoyed, including his idiotic TV work. It’s not always on target and it’s thoroughly grotesque…but funny is funny and I laughed quite a bit. I need help. Cohen scripted alongside Phil Johnston (the enjoyable animated film “Wreck-It Ralph”) and Peter Baynham (co-writer of the lame “Borat”). 

 

Rating: B- (Please forgive me!)