Sacha Baron Cohen‘s return as an iconic character had a brief theatrical run. Ali G: Who Iz I? was released on the big screens on October 23. Just five days later, the movie debuted on streaming.
Reports suggest the brief theatrical run was to create a special experience for the most ardent fans. It was a limited-time offer before moving to Prime Video. Cohen’s directorial debut stars Cohen, along with Morgana Robinson as Ali G’s girlfriend, Julie. The movie adopts the same format as Cohen’s previous films, like Borat and its sequel. Cohen, in his Ali G persona, interacts with unsuspecting people, usually leading to awkward but hilarious situations that serve as important social commentary.
What did critics think of Sacha Baron Cohen’s new Ali G movie?
Ali G: Who Iz I currently has a 43% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film’s IMDb score sits at 5.8/10, based on a little over 1700 reviews.
Movie critics have weighed in, but the character has also sparked controversy. Critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads, “Sacha Baron Cohen goes back to a familiar well with diminishing returns in Who Iz I?, a scattershot comedy with some amusing pranks that otherwise only serves to underscore Ali G’s faded satirical value.”
Cohen addressed the controversy around the movie in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. He said, “The core joke is that a white moron, possibly the stupidest man in the world, is interviewing a white expert or high-status politician, and that white expert or high-status politician believes that this imbecile played by me is real, and that leads to comedy.”
Ali G’s first theatrical outing, Ali G Indahouse, was released in 2002 and earned a little over $23 million, against its $6.65 million budget. Prime Video has seemingly not shared the box office collection of the movie this time around, which might be attributed to its short run.
Originally reported on ComingSoon.
