Review of Grimsby (2016) by Glenn G — 27 Mar 2016

BARREN COHEN - My Review of THE BROTHERS GRIMSBY (2 Stars).

Sasha Baron Cohen is no dummy. With such films as BORAT and BRUNO he showed a clear understanding of how to expose the dark underbelly of American culture while disguising them as goofy, high concept comedies. Sure, his films lost a bit of luster when he ventured into more scripted territory with THE DICTATOR, but he clearly still had something to say.

With his latest film, THE BROTHERS GRIMSBY, not only am I not sure what he's trying to say, I'm not sure he even knows how to say it this time. Muscularly directed by action veteran, Louis Leterrier, known for THE TRANSPORTER and NOW YOU SEE ME, and co-written by Phil Johnston (ZOOTOPIA) and Peter Baynham (BORAT), this film does not suffer from pacing problems with its too-short 83 minute running time, yet it feels fairly empty.

Cohen plays Nobby, a drunken English layabout who presides over a large brood of children when he's not down at the pub watching football or shagging his sexually-charged girlfriend (Rebel Wilson, wasted here). Missing for almost three decades from his life is his younger brother Sebastian (a very game Mark Strong), who has become an M16 spy. Once reunited, mayhem ensues when Nobby must help his brother out of a world-crushing situation.

As an action film, GRIMSBY excels. Taut and thrilling throughout, Leterrier and his cinematographer, the great Oliver Wood, know how to milk thrills for all of their visceral impact. The opening sequence, told from Strong's POV, feels like either a breakneck video game or an outtake from the upcoming HARDCORE HENRY, and it sucks you in handily. Problems creep in right after that with the introduction to Cohen's Nobby. Grotesque beyond all that is reasonable with his potbelly, crooked teeth, and penchant for favoring fat girls. Should we be grossed out by this or are we supposed to celebrate it? Hard to tell.

Also problematic are the actors wasted in what amount to cameos. Isla Fisher, Penelope Cruz, Barked Abdi, and Gabourey Sidibe, like Rebel Wilson, barely register. There's a very funny running gag involving Daniel Radcliffe and Donald Trump, but both even lose in the race to be edgy by the child actor who plays the HIV+ poster child, whose journey in the film makes more of an impression than any of his Academy Award nominated or A-List co-stars.

The screenwriters try to make us care with some well-placed flashbacks to the brothers' childhood, particularly the moment when they separated. This goes a long way in building empathy for the pair, but it also throws the comedy off balance. I cared more than I laughed, if that makes any sense.

Despite its many flaws, there are a good 8, maybe 9, laugh out loud moments. Without spoiling anything, they involve balls, AIDS, and the inside of a giant mammal's vagina. It's all puerile humor, but you may never look at milk in the same way again. Like most big studio comedies, the humor traffics in homophobia by putting the ick factor front and center during some uncomfortable same-sex predicaments. Cohen and co. are clever, however, in that these moments happen between two brothers, so we're either squirming at the homosexuality, the incest, or both. Or maybe he's just trying to say that balls and semen are gross. Hard to say since I don't know what Cohen IS trying to say with this film. I guess it's about the unsung power of the working class, but it remains barely developed.

Watching THE BROTHERS GRIMSBY, I was reminded of SPY, the Melissa McCarthy vehicle that succeeded as both a riotous comedy and a beautifully sustained action film. Sometimes studios can marry the two genres and get it right. McCarthy truly knows how to make us feel the pathos of an invisible woman who hungers for her time to shine. Nobby just wants to be with his brother, or shoot a gun, or drink and have sex. Cohen typically digs deeper than that, but THE BROTHERS GRIMSBY misses more than it hits its very easy targets. It's ultimately a well-made yet largely unfunny muddle.