Sacha Baron Cohen is back to ruffling feathers in his outrageous but wildly uneven mockumentary ridiculing the gullible, good ol’ folk of the US of A.
Scattershot and scatological: Sacha Baron Cohen (seated, on the left) and Adriel Hsu
Image courtesy of Amazon Prime.
by JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
A lot has happened since Ali G was last seen on the big screen. There’s been Covid, wars and Ed Sheeran, and now the poseur from Staines needs some dosh, man. Since his first appearance on TV in Channel 4’s The 11 O’Clock Show in 1998, Sacha Baron Cohen’s outrageous creation has become a nashn’l treasure, starred in his own TV show and a follow-up movie, Ali G Indahouse (2002). But that woz then.
The faux rapper and cultural commentator who exposed the unsuspecting with his absurd interviews was designed to polarise audiences, or at the very least to kick-start some uncomfortable conversations. And there’s no denying that the Cambridge-educated Baron Cohen is nothing if not a courageous, versatile and hugely talented comic force. Here, he parks Borat Sagdiyev to one side and resurrects his rude-boy creation just as the US seems ripe for fresh ridicule.
Opening with the Voltaire quote, “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities,” Who Iz I? recaps the best of Ali G with a smattering of his more famous interviews – with Buzz Aldrin (question: “You think man will ever walk on the sun?”), Donald Trump, and others, while praising the likes of Martin X and Malcolm Luther King. But when HBO refused to renew his contract after he demanded $10 million for the third season of his show, Ali G was forced to sell his mansion and move back to the hood, in Staines, into his Nan’s house. And, so he tells us, “Me lost all respect in my community, and went from being King Charles to being Prince Andrew.”
When Ali G’s girlfriend Julie (Morgana Robinson) gets pregnant, he decides to try and recapture his earlier success in the US and start up a new show on TikTok. So it’s off to San Diego where the reality TV star attempts to drum up some production coin from the supplement business Synergistic Nutrition. Meanwhile, a lecturer-cum-activist called Nira Cain-N'Degeocello (also Baron Cohen) sets out to silence the English intruder, who he regards as a dangerous cultural appropriator. And so it goes…
Some of what Baron Cohen pulls off is gobsmacking, some of it genuinely funny. But the film’s scattershot style and silly subplots quickly destabilize the boat and one can but look on in disbelief as the naïve participants dig themselves into ever-deeper trenches of humiliation. It is excruciating to watch. While Baron Cohen takes on the duties of filmmaker (this is his directorial debut), writer, producer, actor and master of disguise, one can’t help but think that the real stars of the film are his legal team. How did he get away with this stuff? Preying on the good will of strangers is one thing, convincing wannabe ICE agents to re-enact the Final Solution on an ersatz game show is, well, unbelievable. How did these participants subscribe to let Baron Cohen broadcast their hubris? How could anybody sink that low and yet permit millions to laugh at their behaviour?
Sacha Baron Cohen has always said that he uses his mockumentary approach to expose the racism of others rather than to insult minorities. When he asks the African-American clerk of a drugstore if he is black, the poor man really doesn’t know how to respond, any more than he does to Ali G’s immediate consumption of the Viagra he’s just sold him. The scene that everybody will be talking about, though, is how former preacher Joshua Loudermilk and Republican chairman Michael Aboud were talked into delivering Julie’s baby, and were duly drenched in every conceivable waste product. Call it mockumentary or call it social commentary, Ali G: Who Iz I? is not an easy watch, but it can’t be ignored. Whether or not you find it side-splitting will depend on the size of your funny bone.
Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen, Morgana Robinson, Kari Lake, Newt Gingrich, George Santos, Joshua Loudermilk, Michael Aboud, Adriel Hsu, Ken Campbell, Buzz Aldrin, Donald Trump, ASAP Rocky, Rhianna.
Dir Sacha Baron Cohen, Pro Sacha Baron Cohen and Petr Jákl, Screenplay Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Swimer, Dan Mazer and Keisha Zollar, Ph Chris Darnell, Luke Geissbühler and Markus Mentzer, Pro Des David Saenz de Maturana, Ed Craig Alpert, Mark Davies, Michael Giambra and Debra Neil-Fisher, Music Erran Baron Cohen and Nami Melumad, Costumes Jason Alper and Lynsey Moore, Sound Glenn Freemantle.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Four by Two Films/Staines Badman Productions/Working Title Films-Amazon Digital/Amazon Prime.
88 mins. UK/USA. 2026. UK and US Rel: 23 October 2026. Cert. 15.
