Grimsby (aka The Brothers Grimsby)
Cert: 15 / 83 mins / Dir. Louis Leterrier / Trailer
Ah, Mr Baron Cohen, we've been expecting you. Striding blithely forth, the standard-bearer of 2016's first cinematic graveyard shift is Grimsby, a thinly connected series of comedy/spy set-pieces, overflowing with swagger and stupidity like the bastard-brother of Kingsman that only took two GCSEs and managed to fail those.
Never quite at his best on the big screen, Sacha is aided and abetted by a faintly embarrassed-looking Mark Strong; the perennial straight-man in an utterly mechanical screenplay which spends its short 83 minutes constantly searching for the comedic lowest common denominator; and managing to surpass itself time after time as it finds new thresholds of common decency to disregard. Ian McShane and Isla Fisher are confined to a black-ops control room and escape largely with their dignity intact, which is more than can be said for almost every other member of the cast, including Penelope Cruz who doesn't quite seem to know why she's there (and is arguably better-off for that). Perhaps most amazing of all is that the film's star, born and raised in London, has more difficulty holding on to his The North™ accent than his screen-wife Rebel Wilson. Who is from Sydney. On the other side of the actual world.
Fixated with exaggerated stereotypes that have already been flogged to death elsewhere, Grimsby chooses broad, easy targets and attacks them with the bluntest of instruments, attempting to satirise The Class of Jeremy Kyle whilst also selling them tickets and popcorn. Even the film itself isn't sure who it's actually for.
In fact, I can't really understand why I enjoyed it so much…*1
The cruder aspects of Kingsman certainly, with shades of The Inbetweeners and maybe just a pinch of Bourne.
That's not really essential for this movie.
Grimsby aims low in every sense, so it probably does, yes.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
Level 2: Grimsby stars Ian McShane, who also appeared in The Golden Compass alongside Christopher 'Dooku' Lee and Daniel 'Suggestible Stormtrooper' Craig.
*1 I can't even explain it, because if the film had starred Adam Sandler instead of Sacha Baron Cohen, I'd have fucking despised it. This is in no way, shape or form a good movie, either technically or artistically. But I enjoyed it very much.
DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.
No comments:
Post a Comment