THE BROTHERS GRIMSBY (Louis Leterrier). 83 minutes. Opens Friday (March 11). Rating: N
Sacha Baron Cohen’s expiry date has come and gone, folks.
Yes, he’s a gifted comic presence in other people’s movies, and Borat remains a brilliant, daring work of satire – but it’s also nine years old, and since then the actor/writer/producer’s vehicles have grown increasingly desperate.
Brüno was loathsome, The Dictator was a toothless political comedy, and now there’s The Brothers Grimsby, which is… honestly, I don’t know what the hell it’s supposed to be.
In this over-amped, resolutely unfunny action comedy, Baron Cohen plays Nobby Butcher, a working-class English imbecile who discovers that his long-lost brother (Mark Strong) is an elite operative for MI6. Within seconds of their reunion, they both become targets of a lethal global conspiracy.
Strong seems like an awfully good sport, given how much elephant semen, ball-sucking and ass play is thrust upon the poor man, and Baron Cohen abuses his own character just as much, if not more.
If any of it were actually funny – or if director Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, Clash Of The Titans) were willing to let a scene unfold at normal speed rather than chopping it into frenzied incoherence – then we might have had a movie here.
As it is, it plays like a remake of Crank by someone who didn’t realize Crank was a comedy already.
