Review of Grimsby (2016) by Aminul H — 10 Mar 2016

If your idea of a great comedy movie is an limitless supply of spunk jokes with a side order of cock, arse and bukkake gags then this is absolutely the one for you. For the rest of us, be thankful that it's just 83 minutes long.

In his latest character, Sacha Baron Cohen plays Nobby Butcher, an alcoholic football hooligan separated from his brother- the now MI6 spy Sebastian. Circumstances mean that they reunite and thus hilarity ensues between the two chalk-and-cheese characters, first in the town of Grimsby- which is depicted as a depraved hellhole- and then South Africa. I am not Baron Cohen's biggest fan though I enjoyed the character of General Admiral Aladdin in The Dictator which had a strong element of satire running through it; poking fun of Arab dictators as well as the hypocrisy of the West. However, this character did not work quite as well as the accent was a more than a little off-the-mark and the jokes were 'kicking downwards' for the most part. The working-class 'scum' had absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever as Ricky Tomlinson and Johnny Vegas were wasted as beer-swilling extras.

I did laugh a handful of times but with the amount of gross-out gags in this, it tried its very best to make me hate it. It also has a scene involving elephants that I really wish I could unsee. I think I need a bath in Dettol.