Sasha Baron Cohen has quite and unusual sense of humour that tends to shock and make you cringe at times. With his cast of somewhat questionable characters such as Borat, Bruno and most recently The Dictator.
In this new venture we see English simpleton Carl Allen “Nobby” Butcher ( Sasha Baron Cohen) living the dream in the small town of Grimsby with his girlfriend Dawn Grobham (Rebel Wilson) and 11 children. He follows his favourite football team and drinks with his mates at the local pub.
The only thing missing from the picture perfect life is his brother Sebastian (Mark Strong) who he was separated from 28 years ago when they were adopted by separate families. When Nobby learns of his brother’s whereabouts from a friend, he sets off to track him down totally unaware that his brother is now a Mi6 agent. Nobby unwittingly foils a plan that could see the fate of the world in jeopardy.
What ensues is a hilarity and quite a few disgusting moments that will leave you just a little nauseous. As the two haplessly bumble through one difficult situation to the next, trying not to kill themselves and each other. Quite a lot of the humour stoops to a very low level at times and is quite disgusting, but with Baron Cohen can anything else be expected?
Taking a different approach and playing a character that is not a strange foreigner is a slightly different turn for Sasha Baron Cohen, but one that pays off in a number of ways. Nobby is so ridiculous that you can’t help but laugh at his antics as he stumbles through mishap after mishap in an attempt to help his brother.
The style of humour in the movie is not always going to be for everyone, Baron Cohen loves to shock and disgust viewers. If it is something that you don’t like then stay away from this movie, there is a particularly disgusting scene with an elephant that will make you slightly squeamish. Over all it is a pretty funny film that garners quite a few gross out laughs.
6/10
Reviewer: Amanda Starkey