Grimsby

This review may contain spoilers!

Someone needs to stop Sacha Baron Cohen from producing these atrocious comedies. I would give Grimsby a 4/10.

The beginning of the film is really funny and well executed, it felt like a parody film of the spy genre with the sidekick being a really entertaining small town British working class man. It's a shame the way this film progresses because from a technical standpoint this is actually pretty solid for a comedy film. The score for this film is perfect for an action comedy, it's very over the top and can contrast with certain moments that take place in the film quite well. The special effects also look pretty good, I liked the car flying off the bridge as well as the firework effects at the end of the film. The cinematography is particularly impressive, There are some stunning shots as well as many multiple diverse shots throughout this film.

Rebel Wilson, who played Dawn Grobham, had a lot of chemistry with Baron Cohen in this film; her character's openly sexual nature actually really worked quite well in this film. Freddie Crowder, who played Tsunami, was one of the few child actors that were Nobby's kids that I liked; his rough attitude and ability to contrast innocent behaviour with very unexpected crude comedy was well done. Mark Strong, who played Sebastian, is the perfect actor to play a secret agent; Strong has a rough presence and a very convincing hard edge in this film. Lewis Johnson and Gabriel Chay Palmer, who played Young Nobby and Young Sebastian respectively, were an incredible pair with brilliant chemistry in this film; the backstory delivered by these two results in some of the best scenes in the film. Penelope Cruz, who played Rhonda George, was a good choice for the film's antagonist; despite having a character with weak motivations she is clearly one of the better performers with some of the best dialogue delivery in the film.

However the best performance comes from Sacha Baron Cohen, who played Nobby. Sometimes it's those who created the film that do the best in it, they're the ones who know what they're making and are willing to put they're all into creating it. Baron Cohen is clearly one of those people, he takes his role to every possible scenario and really delivers a strong in-character performance each time. I have a lot of respect for his ability to run with a joke and create a character that is funny in the given plot.

There's apoint in this film where you start to stop enjoying what you're watching, around the point where Nobby has to suck poison out of Sebastian's testicles. From this point onwards we're treated to the second half of the film which is rife with crude and offensive humour that never really lands. Frankly it seems to me that they just started aiming for shock value and gave up on delivering a good product. Because of this sloppy second half the film had awful pacing, I was bored and uncomfortable for the rest of the film.

Jon-Jon Lockwood, Shaun Thomas, Claudia Adshead, Miles Evans, Amaan Hendricks, Zak Sutcliffe, Mika Behrman and Laura Therese, who played Jason, Skeletor, Britney, Django Unchained, Gangnam Style, Luke, Nobby's Daughter and Stella Artois respectively, weren't great child actors and actresses in this film; they served to be an oddball backdrop with very little purpose in this film. Isla Fisher, who played Jodie Figgis, served to advance the plot without ever really displaying a character; Fisher's screen presence was weak and forgettable. Scott Adkins, who played Pavel Lukashenko, was a very generic hitman in this film; his confrontation with Nobby wasn't very good at all. Matthew Baldwin, who played Fake Radcliffe, was the butt of a not very funny AIDs joke; this was a hallmark Baron Cohen created character (which isn't saying much). Yusuf Hofri, who played Schlomo Khalidi, was another butt of an awful joke towards disabled people; there was nothing witty or funny about this role. Sam Hazeldine, who played Jeremy Chilcott, was a big talked up antagonist who wound up having zero presence in this film; you didn't find Hazeldine's role even remotely menacing. Annabelle Wallis, who played Lina Smit, was this promiscuous role that you didn't care much about; the scenario she was in wasn't even very funny. Barkhad Abdi, who played Tabansi Nyagura, is a strong reminder that every awful comedy probably has an awful drug related character in it too; I say awful in the sense that you can have drugs and a funny character but too often it's used in a lowbrow way like in this film. Gabourey Sidibe, who played Banu the Cleaner, isn't funny at all; frankly she's just used as the butt of a weak seduction and sex joke. Ian McShane, who played Special Branch Chief, said 'My God' about fifty times in the film and that's about all he did; I expected a lot more from someone as accomplished as McShane.