Der Spion und sein Bruder

"We're the butcher boys of Grimsby. They'll never split us up." Sebastian (Strong) is an undercover assassin who is the best at what he does. His brother Nobby (Cohen) is not as smart, but loves his wife and family. The two haven't seen each other in many many years so when Nobby finally locates him he is incredibly happy, but when he messes up an attempt by Sebastian to save someone both brothers are instantly wanted by the police. Now, Nobby and Sebastian must out run the law, and find a way to save the world. This is a movie I was very worried about. Cohen, to me, is very hit or miss. I though Borat was funny, hated Bruno, loved The Dictator, and the previews for this movie didn't really get me excited to watch it. After seeing this I understood why the previews were the way they are, most of this movie is so over the top and offensive pretty much the only things they could show were in the previews. There are some scenes in this movie I can never un- see. That being said...I really really enjoyed this. I watched it alone and laughed out loud over and over again, while at the same time turning away and watching through my fingers. Cohen has a history of pushing the envelope and he really holds nothing back in this one. Overall, hilarious and extremely over the top and offensive, if you are easily offended skip this one. I thought it was great and for those that can handle it without getting upset I would recommend it. I very surprisingly give this a B+.

Nobby Butcher (Sacha Baron Cohen) is an idiot football hooligan from Grimsby and has 11 children with Dawn (Rebel Wilson). He is looking to reconnect with estranged brother Sebastian Graves (Mark Strong). Sebastian is now a gunman for an MI6 offshoot. His investigation leads to actress philanthropist Rhonda George (Penelope Cruz). Nobby's interference causes Sebastian to be blamed for an assassination. Sebastian is forced to team up with his secret brother Nobby.

Nobby is partially annoying. Once I get over it, his idiocy is a little funny. It's all silly and outrageous. I'm half rolling my eyes, and half smirking in disbelief. I'm bored with the poop jokes and the more obvious stuff. The shock humor is over the top. On the other hand, SBC often hits the audience with some unexpected humor. It's a real mix bag.

The good thing about Sacha Baron Cohen's movies is that you know exactly what you are in for when you step into the cinema.

Anybody who is offended at the crude humour in SBC's movies, has only themselves to blame.

So what can you expect? Funny dialogues, a nonsense script, hilarious jokes (and yes, also some hit/miss ones but that is to be expected with this rollercoaster), decent action scenes and lots and lots of dirty, filthy, cringe-worhty scenes. Love it!

The funniest thing: casting Liam Gallagher as Nobby and starting the movie with a song by Blur and having Noel Gallagher sing "Cigarettes & Alcohol". You have to hand it to SBC: he does not leave a stone unturned in his quest to offend people.

The human-based comedy is mostly kept relatively weak in "The Brothers Grimsby," a sleazy but labored spy satire. With its unsettling blend of jocular genre satire, excessive gross-out content, and casually gory, video-game-style combat, the story of two estranged siblings coming together to confront a worldwide terrorism syndicate earns some stray yucks. The laughs per minute are noticeably lower than they were in "Spy," which was a kinder "Spy" from the previous year. It remains to be seen how many HIV-AIDS jokes auds will be ready to laugh at in an otherwise sparsely filled 82 minutes, however certain relevant punchlines may grant these brothers some ephemeral pop-cultural recognition.

Normally I am not overly keen on the movies that Sacha Baron Cohen stars in, because he is fairly singular and monotonous in his movies. As in if you've seen one of his movies, you have essentially seen all.

However I decided to give the movie a chance because it had Mark Strong on the cast list, and also because my wife said it was a hilarious movie. It turned out that this was actually a rather enjoyable and funny movie. There were some really funny moments throughout the course of the movie. And yes, I did laugh a lot throughout this movie as the endless gags kept coming.

The storyline was a good combination of serious plot and silly comedy. And I must admit that this was one of Sascha Baron Cohen's better movies actually.

The Brothers Grimsby" is good for an evening of cheap laughs, but I doubt this is a movie that you will pick up and watch more than once as it doesn't seem to have enough contents to support more than a single viewing.