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A new Netflix movie starring Sacha Baron Cohen and Rosamund Pike has shot up the movie chart even though it has been universally panned.
The gender-swapped satire, Ladies First, follows douchebag businessman Damien Sachs (Sacha), who is plunged into a world ruled by the matriarchy, where he gets a taste of his own medicine under the thumb of his female boss, Alex (Rosamund).
Every woman’s rights issues from medical misogyny to workplace harassment and beyond are now a burden men must shoulder (‘my sperm, my choice’, Pope Beatrice III and so on) – and it’s a much-needed wake-up call for Damien.
As the synopsis puts it: ‘An arrogant but charismatic ladies’ man finds his life of money, power and casual flings upended when he wakes up in a parallel world dominated by women’.
If you think it sounds like a movie straight out of the early 2010s, giving a dated take on feminism, then you’re not too far off the mark, as it is based on a 2018 French movie.
Since landing on the streaming giant on May 22, it has already secured the number two slot, no doubt eyeing up the number one before long.
This is despite the rising level of poor reviews for the new movie, including a shickin 15% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Guardian declared in its one-star review: ‘For a film so unashamedly silly, it’s also incredibly, tiresomely un-fun and, by the end, laughably earnest, as if we should all be learning a very important lesson.’
‘Sacha Baron Cohen is knocked unconscious early in Netflix comedy Ladies First, a film that only sometimes makes you wish the same for yourself,’ Financial Times charitably wrote.
Screenrant called it ‘a comedy sketch premise stretched to feature length’ and Daily Telegraph slammed its ‘dreary plot’
As for the fans, it was a mixed bag.
‘Archaic and predictable. Laughed out loud once but mostly thought, how could they keep filming this and think it was a good idea? Still??’ Bethe G wrote on RT.
‘Not a single second was redeemable,’ BF declared while Symone Z said it was ‘a huge misfire and horribly embarrassing for a strong, usually dependable cast’
User CSRT added: ‘If it’s on Netflix…probably/most likely, gonna be absolute trash! It’s a good premise for a movie, but executed absolutely horribly.’
Some were convinced by the story and performances, however.
Leo W claimed it had ‘funny, good acting and the movie may have satire but its spot on’ while Autumn R called it a ‘sharp, self-aware comedy that never takes itself too seriously’.
Perhaps Lol D has the best approach, sharing: ‘It was light-hearted and fun. We went in with no expectations and had a few laughs along the way…’
Discussing her approach to playing the female equivalent of an insufferable misogynist, the Gone Girl star told Radio Times: ‘All you have to do is just think what men would have done in these movies back in the day, or even now, or in real life.
‘So this young actor comes on, and I get to be this sleazy older actor who gets to just kind of check him out and put my hand on his arse. I mean it’s mad, because we’ve seen it the other way around… it’s funny!’
Ladies First is now streaming on Netflix.
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