Sacha Baron Cohen's shtick has always been pushing the envelope and shock humour. He got everyone's attention with Borat. However, his successive attempts to do the same with Bruno and The Dictator showed that the gimmick was quickly wearing out. It could not be made any clearer with this film.
So, the story. Nobby (Cohen) and Sebastian (Mark Strong) are estranged brothers having been separated after Sebastian gets adopted by an upper-middle class family, leaving Nobby to be brought up in the rough, working class environment of Grimsby.
Twenty-eight years pass, and Sebastian has become a top-ranking MI6 assassin, while Nobby has raised a family with his girlfriend (Rebel Wilson). He's a gormless football hooligan, and a good friend of everyone in his chavvy neighbourhood. Nobby longs to be reunited with his brother, when he gets tipped off that Sebastian is in London trying to prevent an assassination attempt. Penelope Cruz is a humanitarian advocate hosting a philanthropic event in aid of a Middle Eastern boy with AIDS. Sebastian tries to complete his mission, but is distracted by Nobby, who finds him and embraces him, causing him to lose his aim, ruining the mission.
Sebastian is then forced to go on the run as MI6 now believe him to be a traitor. Nobby agrees to help him fulfil his mission in clearing his name, and from there, it's really a below-the-belt juvenile spy film, with crude humour throughout.
The jokes are fairly predictable, between Nobby's dysfunctional family to some of the grossest scenes Cohen has brought to the screen, and that's saying a lot. Let me put it this way, I'll never look at an elephant the same way again.
The 'odd couple' dynamic has been done to death and there's no real surprises in this film. Some of the CGI is utterly atrocious. There's a scene that contains Donald Trump (well, actually, the photoshopped head of Donald Trump, and that's kind of my point) It was the tackiest bit of editing I've ever seen in a studio produced film.
Cohen has tired out this shock humour technique in his work, and Grimsby is an uninspired spy comedy that shows us that he is in dire need of a new direction in his career.
So, the story. Nobby (Cohen) and Sebastian (Mark Strong) are estranged brothers having been separated after Sebastian gets adopted by an upper-middle class family, leaving Nobby to be brought up in the rough, working class environment of Grimsby.
Twenty-eight years pass, and Sebastian has become a top-ranking MI6 assassin, while Nobby has raised a family with his girlfriend (Rebel Wilson). He's a gormless football hooligan, and a good friend of everyone in his chavvy neighbourhood. Nobby longs to be reunited with his brother, when he gets tipped off that Sebastian is in London trying to prevent an assassination attempt. Penelope Cruz is a humanitarian advocate hosting a philanthropic event in aid of a Middle Eastern boy with AIDS. Sebastian tries to complete his mission, but is distracted by Nobby, who finds him and embraces him, causing him to lose his aim, ruining the mission.
Sebastian is then forced to go on the run as MI6 now believe him to be a traitor. Nobby agrees to help him fulfil his mission in clearing his name, and from there, it's really a below-the-belt juvenile spy film, with crude humour throughout.
The jokes are fairly predictable, between Nobby's dysfunctional family to some of the grossest scenes Cohen has brought to the screen, and that's saying a lot. Let me put it this way, I'll never look at an elephant the same way again.
The 'odd couple' dynamic has been done to death and there's no real surprises in this film. Some of the CGI is utterly atrocious. There's a scene that contains Donald Trump (well, actually, the photoshopped head of Donald Trump, and that's kind of my point) It was the tackiest bit of editing I've ever seen in a studio produced film.
Cohen has tired out this shock humour technique in his work, and Grimsby is an uninspired spy comedy that shows us that he is in dire need of a new direction in his career.