“The Brothers Grimsby,” directed by Louis Leterrier, is the latest comedy starting Sacha Baron Cohen. This time, he is joined by Mark Strong as his co-leading man, with Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson and Penelope Cruz in supporting roles. Uniquely, for a Cohen film, the movie is more of an action comedy (as opposed to being straight comedy like usual). Also, the movie doesn’t opt to take his normal mockumentary route either. Instead, we get a story of brotherly love—albeit one disguised as a buddy cop spy movie.
That being said, the movie follows two brothers who were separated in childhood when the younger one (Strong) was adopted from an orphanage by a good family. The older one (Cohen), unfortunately, was left behind where he became a family man and football hooligan. Meanwhile, the younger one became the top MI6 assassin. The plot ultimately kick starts when the brothers are reunited and Cohen’s character causes Strong to shoot the wrong person. As a result, they both became fugitives and are being hunted by a recently reactivated MI6 assassin who is subsequently revealed to be a psychopath. Meanwhile, they have to prevent a virus from being unleashed at the FIFA World Cup.
Overall, I had mixed feelings about this movie. I’m not saying it’s bad or anything, just a bit indecisive. I mean, it alternated between jokes that were either brilliantly funny or incredibly stupid—sometimes in the same scene. Besides, this is Sacha Baron Cohen. If you’re a fan of his previous work, you’ll probably enjoy this movie (though not as much as “Borat” or “Bruno”). If not, this won’t make you a fan.