{"id":814079,"date":"2026-05-22T07:27:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T07:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/814079\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T07:27:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T07:27:15","slug":"ladies-first-review-sacha-baron-cohen-in-netflix-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/814079\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Ladies First’ Review: Sacha Baron Cohen in Netflix Comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tYou don\u2019t have to have seen the 2018 French film<\/a> on which it\u2019s based to predict exactly where Ladies First is going every step of the way. This comic tale of an arrogant, sexist male executive who gets his comeuppance when he hits his head and wakes up to find himself in a world dominated by women hits every satirical note you\u2019d expect but provides more knowing chuckles than genuine laughs. An almost ridiculously overqualified cast of notable British thespians does their best to elevate the material of this Netflix<\/a> comedy directed by Thea Sharrock (Wicked Little Letters<\/a>, Me Before You<\/a>), but it\u2019s heavy lifting.<\/p>\n

\n\tSacha Baron Cohen<\/a>, unusually not relying on changing his vocal and physical attributes for comic effect, plays Damien, an advertising company executive who revels in his misogynistic attitudes and playboy lifestyle. He\u2019s looking forward to an upcoming promotion at the hands of his boss (Charles Dance<\/a>), swaggering through the office to the strains of \u201cDa Ya Think I\u2019m Sexy?\u201d (one of far too many on-the-nose soundtrack selections).<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLadies First\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tThe Bottom Line<\/p>\n

\tNo, you go right ahead.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRelease date<\/strong>: Friday, May 22
Cast<\/strong>: Sacha Baron Cohen, Rosamund Pike, Charles Dance, Emily Mortimer, Tom Davis, Richard E. Grant, Fiona Shaw, Weruche Opia, Kathryn Hunter, Kadiff Kirwan, Bill Paterson
Director<\/strong>: Thea Sharrock
Screenwriters<\/strong>: Natalie Krinsky, Cinco Paul, Katie Silberman
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRated R,
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1 hour 30 minutes\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\tMost egregiously, he treats fellow executive Alex (Rosamund Pike<\/a>) horribly condescendingly during company meetings strategizing over an ad campaign for their latest client, Guinness. He treats her so badly, in fact, that she quits. But during their subsequent angry encounter out on the street, Damien runs smack into a pole and knocks himself out.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s not hard to guess what happens next, as he wakes up in a topsy-turvy world where the agency\u2019s receptionist (Fiona Shaw) is now the CEO and the cleaning woman (Kathryn Hunter) a top executive. Alex is very much in charge, and the men at the agency, including Damien and his former boss, are treated derisively, the sexism very much in reverse.<\/p>\n

\n\tThings are equally akilter in his family\u2019s home, with his mother now sitting on the couch watching TV while his father slaves away in the kitchen. And his accomplished dentist sister (Emily Mortimer<\/a>) amuses herself greatly with fart jokes.<\/p>\n

\n\tDamien attempts to get things back to normal by slamming his head again, to no avail. So now, fueled by advice from an eccentric street person (Richard E. Grant<\/a>) who has multiple pigeons perched on his head, he attempts to rise up the corporate ranks again using masculine wiles. It\u2019s not easy, since when he attempts to make suggestions at a corporate strategy mission, he\u2019s told such things as \u201cYou need to relax\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t get too emotional.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tScreenwriters Natalie Krinsky, Cinco Paul and Katie Silberman clearly seem to have enjoyed reversing every sexist stereotype they could think of with such gags as female construction workers ogling Damien on the street; his attempting to become \u201cfuckable\u201d for career advancement through such things as a \u201ctesticle bra\u201d and body waxing (cue The 40-Year-Old Virgin-style screams of pain); and, of course, ordering a plain salad for dinner instead of steak.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd when Damien and Alex do wind up in bed together even though she\u2019s now his boss, they engage in a wrestling match over which one of them will be on top.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s mildly amusing but all so obvious, including the sexual reversals evident on such book titles as \u201cHarriet Potter\u201d and \u201cDonna Quixote\u201d and retail outlets like \u201cBurger Queen\u201d and \u201cVictor\u2019s Secret.\u201d Not to mention the female Pope Beatrice.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film moves swiftly enough, with the gags coming at such a consistent pace, that inevitably some of them land. And the performers certainly know how to sell the material, with Cohen amusingly leaning into his character\u2019s humiliations, Pike appealingly reveling in her character\u2019s dominance, and the top-notch supporting cast going through their paces like the pros they are.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut long before Alex inverts the stereotypical male\/female dynamic by showing no interest in a relationship after she and Damien have their one-night stand, you realize that despite its high concept, Ladies First is hopelessly old-fashioned in its satirical conceit. No points for guessing that Damien will have seen the past error of his ways by the film\u2019s conclusion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You don\u2019t have to have seen the 2018 French film on which it\u2019s based to predict exactly where…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":814080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[28],"tags":[304466,330591,171,53,4659,95631,11675,59525,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-814079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-charles-dance","tag-emily-mortimer","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-netflix","tag-richard-e-grant","tag-rosamund-pike","tag-sacha-baron-cohen","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116617048818280399","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}