Remember how funny and violent last year’s Bond spoofs were? Good. Watch them again, because The Brothers Grimsby is the worst version of this type of movie. Sacha Baron Cohen gives in to his worst tendencies as an English hooligan named Nobby. The father of nine poorly named children—e.g., Tsunami, Skeletor and Luke, which is short for leukemia—maybe by his girlfriend, played by Rebel Wilson, has a hole in his life due to the absence of his younger brother, Sebastian (Mark Strong, for whom I spent most of the movies feeling immensely sorry). His long-lost sibling happens to be MI6’s top spy, but a reunion with his lesser bro puts him on his own agency’s hit list.
Cohen’s obsession with bad body humor continues, and I pity FX specialists tasked with creating those fake elephant parts. Still, I cannot pity them more than the audiences tricked into sitting through their usage. Raunchy humor is hilarious; so is stupid humor. Unfortunately, The Brothers Grimsby is merely dumb. The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier does choreograph some nice POV action sequences, but they are beaten down by the bad jokes. Not even the always-welcome presence of Ian McShane helps. I’m pretty sure the only laugh I uttered came during the credits.
2016 is becoming a very competitive year for bad comedy. I don’t know that I can choose which is worst: Dirty Grandpa, Zoolander 2 or this terrible new contender. I recommend you never find out by not watching any of them.
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