Grimsby (2016) (English Language)

Review

83min

Genre:      Action, Comedy

Director:   Louis Leterrier

Cast:        Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong, Penélope Cruz…and more

Writers:    Sacha Baron Cohen, Phil Johnston & Peter Baynham

-Synopsis-

An abandoned orphan turned British super spy is forced to join forces with his estranged, hapless, football hooligan older brother to stop a global terrorist plot in this outrageous spy-spoof action/comedy from the unique and shameless mind behind ‘Borat’ and ‘Bruno’.

Writer and star Sacha Baron Cohen fixes his irrepressible parodical eye on the Spy-romp subgenre and stars as “Nobby”, an inept Liam Gallagher-inspired football-obsessed working-class northerner, alongside his determined unflappable secret agent brother “Sebastian” played by Mark Strong.

With the action credentials of director Louis Leterrier and Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedic sensibilities, ‘Grimsby’ is a graphically violent and unapologetically irreverent action/comedy which raises a huge middle finger to political correctness and will rile the easily offended… while periodically shocking everyone else.

But not long into the film we were left wishing that Baron Cohen et al would turn up the tasteless shock value, if only so we could actually feel something about this puerile mess of a genre film which fails to entertain on multiple levels.

‘Grimsby’ is undoubtedly a silly film in every aspect, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But it’s also incredibly infantile and most importantly not funny for the most part, making it woefully inadequate in the company of recent Spy action/comedies like ‘Spy’ and ‘Kingsman’.

So only the shock value is left to rely on… and ‘Grimsby’ has plenty of that, including a bestiality scene which is now seared in our memory forever, giving the infamous naked hotel wrestling scene in ‘Borat’ a run for its money.

But even combined with the action, it’s just not enough to make the film entertaining. The attempts at social class commentary are paltry and transparent as ‘Grimsby’ pretends to champion the “exploits” of the working class while exploiting and ridiculing them for comedy’s sake.

A one-off fearless talent like Sacha Baron Cohen will always walk and occasionally step over the line between the fabulously tasteless and the shockingly coarse… and that’s fine with us. But with ‘Grimsby’ he’s leaped over the line between ludicrously silly and mind-numbingly stupid, venturing into dangerous audience indifference territory. Here’s hoping he can find his way back to the land of pushing the envelope while thoroughly entertaining audiences.

The Bottom Line…

A collection of lewd comedy set-pieces and character stereotypes wrapped in a ludicrous spy action narrative, ‘Grimsby’ offers nothing much beyond shock value and a couple of memorable scenes while being criminally unfunny, quite possibly the weakest Sacha Baron Cohen creation to date.

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Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Spy (2015)

Melissa McCarthy stars as a bumbling CIA analyst “Desk Jockey” turned unlikely best hope of stopping an International Arms dealer, hilarity ensues as she is transformed into an undercover field agent in this Spy-comedy action blockbuster from the makers of ‘Bridesmaids’.

Directed by Paul Feig and starring Melissa McCarthy, Jude Law and Jason Statham among others.

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