Meanwhile, Louis Leterrier (“The Transporter,” “Now You See Me”) directs, adding a few flourishes, especially to fight scenes shot with GoPro cameras that play out like a first-person-shooter video game. Who comes up with this stuff? Cohen shares screenwriting credits with Phil Johnston and Peter Baynham. Are you shocked yet? Let’s hope not, because things get messier. That bit has nothing on what the brothers find in South Africa, however, when the men hide from hired killers by climbing into an elephant’s vagina.
As are, I must admit, some very big laughs.
“You can suck my scrotum or you can let me die,” Sebastian tells Nobby. In a twist on the old venom-sucking routine, Sebastian gets hit by a poison dart, which leads to one unforgettable line. First the brothers retreat to Grimsby, where Sebastian is repulsed by the citizens, but not nearly as much as the homophobic Nobby when he has to save his brother from certain death. The chase sends them globe-trotting, and each new locale supplies a fresh opportunity to disgust the audience. Suddenly the skilled spy and his idiot of a sidekick are on the run from some very dangerous men. The two reconnect, but Sebastian is soon framed for the assassination of the World Health Organization leader. Decades later, Nobby has tracked down his little bro (Mark Strong) only to find that he’s not only a snob, but also a cunning and efficient MI6 killing machine. He has been searching for his brother, Sebastian, for 28 years, since the two orphans were separated and Sebastian was adopted by a posh London family. (Chris Raphael/Columbia Pictures)īut back to the movie: Something is missing from Nobby’s life. Cohen must strike fear in the hearts of tourism office directors around the globe. The move echoes the way “Borat” maligned Kazakhstan and “ Da Ali G Show” ridiculed the town of Staines. Grimsby, mind you, is a real place in northern England, and let’s just say the locals aren’t over the moon with the portrayal by the Cambridge-educated Cohen. His neighbors have similar dispositions - all overweight, beer-swilling barflies. That’s short for leukemia, the sickness Nobby pretends the boy has so the family can get bigger welfare checks. One is named Django Unchained, another is Luke. You see, Nobby is a mulleted, potbellied, unemployed soccer hooligan with enough children to field a baseball team. But Cohen’s shtick of showing the backwardness and stupidity of unprivileged characters is starting to feel lazy, not to mention classist itself. “The Brothers Grimsby” is fitfully, sometimes outrageously, funny. But those comedies, and their “gotcha” interviews, also supplied incisive commentary on homophobia, racism, classism and hypocrisy. Or the scene in “ Bruno” in which Cohen’s character performs some impressive acrobatics with his, well, you know. That naked wrestling match in “ Borat” comes to mind. Cohen’s movies have always been bacchanals of lewdness. That’s a pretty tame amuse-bouche considering the feast of raunch to come. They’re at a mattress store testing out the merchandise. Sure enough, it turns out Nobby and Dawn (Rebel Wilson) aren’t at home in bed. Cohen doesn’t have the restraint to let a sex scene be just a sex scene. Kelly’s “Bump N’ Grind.” You can sense a gag coming. When first we see Nobby Butcher, played by Sacha Baron Cohen in “The Brothers Grimsby,” he and his girlfriend are getting busy to the tune of R. Mark Strong, left, and Sacha Baron Cohen in ”The Brothers Grimsby.” (Daniel Smith/Columbia Pictures)