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Ali G In Da House - Lock Your Doors

Stay home and watch the tele movie instead

By Emma Kae - 16th July 2002 - Back to News

Ali G began as a comic sensation on Britain’s Channel Four, and told the story of a white man from starchy, uptight England, that is obsessed with black ghetto culture. The wannabe gangsta became a cult hit, and the film industries obsession with taking anything that receives a little success and turning it into a money making machine had the Ali G feature film in the works before you could say "wicked".

The film tells the story of Ali G’s (Sacha Baron Cohen) journey from piss-weak to politician. The plot, as it often seems in these money rather than talent driven films, could be described as wafer thin, even sketchy and never inspiring or overly original. 

It all begins when scheming deputy Prime Minister David Carlton (Charles Dance) spots Ali G and pegs him as the perfect candidate to lose the local by election and clear the way for him to take the seat of power. Unfortunately for Carlton, his dreams fall to pieces when Ali wins the hearts of the voting public and is soon elected into Parliament with his calls to 'keep it real'.

Not prepared to simply accept things as they are, the unscrupulous Carlton devises a plan to win back his own favour and embarrass the Prime Minister so badly that he is forced to resign. Ali G, of course, intervenes once more to put an end to Carlton’s evil plot and outfox the shady types who roam the corridors of power. Real heavy stuff.

Now, placing Ali G into Britain’s political world could have had some great moments, but the idea is wasted when the film becomes no more than a tired excuse for the kind of jokes that make you groan and check your watch to estimate when you can make your escape. No taboo goes unexploited, and after a while you realise that the boob jokes never were that funny.

Hardcore Ali G fans will appreciate and enjoy seeing never before seen characters that previously only existed in Ali's small screen stories finally brought to life. ‘Me Julie’ (Kellie Bright) is a lovely portrait of the white-trash girlfriend all wannabe’s dream of, while his hapless friends Ricky C (Martin Freeman) and Dave (Tony Way) add a brief moment of interest.

There is a genuinely funny scene when we see a flashback to when Ali G and Julie first met. It shows an Ali G of the past as a long-haired Goth, slow-dancing in a disco. For the otherwise oblivious, this scene is a hint at Ali G’s tendancy to be an example of the shallow disciple of fickle fashion trends we see everywhere today.

Upon watching this film, it becomes sadly obvious that Ali G's ever-present misguided notion that he is actually cool has finally worn out its welcome in the house of humour, and seems both tired and dated. I suggest that unless you are a witless fan of Ali G, content with low brow, dime a dollar jokes, you probably should take the advice of fellow reviewer Alex Finch and wait for it to come out on video, where under the influence of alcohol it'll probably seem much better than it really is.

Click here to see when Ali G is showing at your favourite Gippsland cinema.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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