Review of Grimsby (2016) by Maksim B — 17 Jun 2016

The Brothers Grimsby is yet another attempt of Sacha Baron Cohen to cash in by labelling, generalizing social and racial groups as well as exploiting his trademark of providing loads of nasty gags and an absurd story. Unoriginal and definitely far from being as funny as his previous deliveries this movie will certainly be considered a disappointment even by his hard-core fans.

Carl "Nobby"(Sacha Baron Cohen) is an English football hooligan and a father of 11 kids living with his girlfriend in the industrial and poor Grimsby. Years after the separation from his lost brother Sebastian (Mark Strong), Nobby lives a life of a totally irresponsible adult, until one day he finds out that his brother is alive. The re-connection with Sebastian is not as smooth as Carl hoped, given the fact that his brother is a special MI6 agent on a mission. The first meeting after 20+ years leads to a mission failure for Sebastian and makes him seem as a rogue agent. Chased by everyone, he can rely only on his brother for help in order to clean up his name and uncover a worldwide conspiracy.

Needless to say, just as any Sacha Baron Cohen movie, The Grimsby Brothers has an absurd story that completely does not make any sense. Unfortunately, the movie is far from being as funny as Borat or The Dictator. It is true that in terms of being gross, it score better than Bruno, but in the end after 82 minutes of watching you will inevitably get the feeling that you have been robbed of your money (or time at least). Thus, if one has been ready to see another nasty, but outrageously hilarious delivery by Cohen, he or she would be totally disappointed simply because the only reason to watch The Brothers Grimsby is not delivered. Apart from two laughs, there is absolutely nothing else in it.

In conclusion, even if you are a hard-core fan of Cohen, you will be dissatisfied with what you've seen after the final credits. Therefore, The Brothers Grimsby is definitely not recommended and could be considered only a waste of time.