★★☆
Has it really been a decade since Sacha Baron Cohen gave us Borat Sagdiyev – the mankini-clad Kazakh journalist and inspiration for a thousand ill-advised fancy dress costumes? The comedian returns to our screens this time as protagonist Norman ‘Nobby’ Butcher in the James Bond spoof, Grimsby.
Nobby is your average lager-swilling football yob who lives on a council estate in the Northern English fishing town of Grimsby with his nine children and loving girlfriend Dawn (Rebel Wilson). Long since separated from his brother – who is now sleek secret service agent Sebastian (Mark Strong), Nobby reunites with his sibling at a World Health Organisation conference in London, where a terror attack is about to take place. When things go awry, it’s left to the hapless Nobby and his barmy army of mates to foil a sinister plot to rid an overpopulated world of the working classes.
Unfortunately Grimsby has little to say and unlike Cohen’s previous efforts, never really deviates from a well-worn path. A fully-scripted narrative gives the comedian little opportunity to improvise and integrate real-life reactions – the same reactions that made previous characters like Borat, Ali G and Bruno so memorable. There’s no real conflict here for Cohen to exploit and that vital edge to his satire is missing. While his previous characters rallied against ignorance, racism and homophobia, Nobby feels dated and off-target in his portrayal of working class Britain, serving only as fodder for a number of memorable gross-out gags. Plenty of crude (albeit enjoyable) belly laughs and a series of chaotic action sequences prevent the story from flatlining.
Director Louis Leterrier (Transporter, The Incredible Hulk) does provide some distraction with a stream of car chases and plenty of explosions, but ultimately seems miscast guiding this comedy. This film is the first of Cohen’s recent work that hasn’t involved him collaborating with longtime Seinfeld writer Larry Charles as director and it feels as though his touch is missing.
By the end of the film, you do feel as though Cohen has exhausted every bodily function for laughs. Whilst fun in patches, Grimsby is a disappointing end result for a comedian of this talent and depth.
Grimsbyis in cinemas now.
