By Ben McEachenMonday 14 Mar 2016The Big PictureMoviesReading Time: 2 minutes
SUMMARY: Nobby (Sacha Baron Cohen) is a drunken, sweary English bloke who loves to swear, have sex and … love his large family. He’s been upset for decades, though, due to his brother have been placed in foster care. Unexpectedly, his brother returns – in the shape of super-spy Sebastian (Mark Strong). Accused of pulling the trigger on a failed assassination attempt, Sebastian is on the run. With Nobby. They try to solve an international plot to spread disease across the globe.
RATED: MA15+ for strong crude sexual humour and nudity. A well-deserved rating.
AUDIENCE: Fans of Sacha Baron Cohen, the shock comedian responsible for Borat, Ali G and Bruno. In other words, you’ll only like this if you enjoy vulgar and controversial adult “humour”.
WHAT’S GOOD: Not much. As offensive, juvenile and cruel as Sacha Baron Cohen has been in the past, some of his infamous “mockumentary” movies and TV shows contained sparks of wit and searing comedy. Grimsby only has the odd clever line or situation.
WHAT’S NOT: This apparent attempt at being a parody of spy movies is limp, repetitive and crass. The only reason it got made must be because Sacha Baron Cohen wanted to star in an action movie. Beyond the humour being uninspired and the action sequences whizzing past like furious swirls, Grimsby contains scenes of obscenity only included so that it shocks audiences.
SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING: Amazingly, beer-swilling lout Nobby often stands up for family values, loyalty and defending the poor. While it is fantastic to hear anyone on-screen uphold things that God and Jesus call us to do (Proverbs 31:9; Psalm 82:3; Luke 6:20-36), it doesn’t hold water when Nobby says it. Why? Because his words don’t match his behaviour and aren’t consistent with the way he approaches life. We’ve got to practice what we preach, if we’re to be taken seriously.