Grimsby

Borat is still the benchmark but Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest character does come up with enough stomach-turning scenarios to get Grimsby over the line.

Cohen is Nobby Butcher, a lager lout dividing his days between his dilapidated housing estate, the pub, the football terrace and his wife’s (Rebel Wilson) bed/couch. He’s been looking for his long lost younger brother Sebastian (Strong) for seventeen years, who turns out is a secret spy for an MI5 offshoot. When Nobby tracks Sebastian down (How he does this is not entirely clear) and inadvertently kyboshes his brother’s latest mission, forcing the two on the run, (in the process infecting Daniel Radcliffe with Aids, which is very clearly illustrated), the two brothers get to know each other while dodging bullets.

A mash up of Cohen’s unique brand of gross out humour and action director Leterrier’s (Transporter 1 and 2) tendency to toss the camera about with abandon has mixed results. The high point (or low point if you have no dispensation for these things) of the former is the Elephant scene; at first it looks like a none-too-subtle rip off of the rhino gag from the Ace Ventura sequel but then Cohen takes it to a place that only he dares. The latter throws up an opening action sequence that’s as equally impressive as it is frustrating: a POV video game style has Strong chase bad guys but the frantic cutting can make it difficult to know what’s going on and why.

The plot – something to do with the spreading of a virus – isn’t important and is there to solely service the jokes, and the breathless globetrotting (Grimsby to South Africa to Chile), leaves the supporting cast of Johnny Vegas, Isla Fisher, Ian McShane, Rebel Wilson and Ricky Tomlinson little to do. But there are gags aplenty and while not all of them work credit Cohen for attempting to push the boundaries with each and every one. Flatulence, shooting Aids-infected children, and the unforgettable elephant – it’s all fair game here. There’s also a Liam Gallagher joke that, to my eternal shame, I didn’t see coming.

Not terrible but three movies later and nothing has come near Borat.