The Brothers Grimsby – Not as bad as you’ve heard

I recently watched an online survey video on Youtube about the stars who had – in their words – ‘lost their shine.’ I was surprised to see that Sacha Baron Cohen’s name was on there, largely to do with ‘The Brothers Grimsby’ (or just ‘Grimsby’ in some cases).  I saw the trailer in the cinema and it looked pretty funny (doesn’t it always?), but couldn’t see that it was destined to bomb.

It’s sort of a ‘buddy-cop’ film where a pair of mismatched individuals have to work together in order to solve X, Y or Z.  In this case, we have a pair of mismatched spies – one (Baron Cohen) is a slob from Grimsby, while the other is his long lost younger brother who is now a genuine suave, super-spy (Mark Strong).  Now, I’m a big fan of the pair of them and was looking forwards to seeing how they interact on the big screen, plus I own pretty much ever Sacha Baron Cohen film to date. However, now I’ve watched it, I can see why it didn’t do him any favours.

I’d say that the first third is probably the best section of the film.  It is genuinely funny and there were a fair few ‘laugh out loud’ moments.  It centres on the pair of brothers meeting and the set-up for their mission established.  And, yes, Baron Cohen and Strong do play off each other well (in fact, I swear there are some shots which had to be cut short due to Mark Strong trying not to laugh at his co-star’s antics!).  The film feels like an extended episode of ‘Shameless’ (only with more stylised gunplay) and works best when it’s actually set in Grimsby itself (although I do wonder what the real residents of Grimsby will make of the way they’re being portrayed on screen!).

Unfortunately, the action moves away from the titular town and begins to traverse the globe.  This is where things start unravelling.  There are still funny moments and many do land, however it’s not half as slick as its opening.  This wouldn’t be too bad if it wasn’t for the fact that the film includes between 1-3 (depending on your opinion) moments that are simply too over-the-top.  I was happy to suspend my disbelief in order to make the plot/gags work, but sometimes things go too far – as if Baron Cohen is trying too hard to shock in order to get laughs.  These bits stick out as annoying and just cringe-worthy in a film which is actually reasonably solid.

I enjoyed the film, simply because more parts of it worked that didn’t.  However, as I mentioned, due to those few scenes which just stick in your mind for all the wrong reasons, I can see how it won’t have helped Sacha baron Cohen’s star remain sparkling.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that