Sacha Baron Cohen has built a career on making audiences laugh while challenging their comfort zones. Renowned for creating outrageous comic personas like Borat, Brüno, and Ali G, he specialises in using satire, provocation, and elaborate undercover encounters to reveal the prejudices, hypocrisies, and absurdities of those he meets.
Baron Cohen’s comedy thrives on the tension between those in on the joke and those unwittingly caught in it. With Ali G Who Iz I?, Baron Cohen revisits one of his most iconic creations, delivering a film that is far more self-aware than expected.
When news of Ali G’s return broke, the internet went into overdrive, not always with excitement. For many, the character’s revival sparked uncomfortable debates about racial stereotypes and cultural appropriation. To his credit, Baron Cohen doesn’t avoid the controversy. Instead, he confronts it directly, having Ali G insist he was never meant to be black and implying that some of his harshest critics are themselves guilty of making assumptions about race.
Whether that argument is convincing is another matter. The inclusion of an excessively woke white university professor, also portrayed by Baron Cohen, as a target of ridicule feels like low-hanging fruit, and at times the film seems more intent on scoring points than fostering genuine discussion. Still, there is a refreshing degree of self-awareness. Baron Cohen recognises the objections at play, even if his response won’t satisfy everyone.
Directed and written by Baron Cohen, the film follows Ali and his girlfriend Julie (played here by Morgana Robinson) to Los Angeles, where, broke and expecting their first child, he tries to revive his faltering career. What ensues is classic Baron Cohen: outrageous encounters, questionable taste, and comedy that ventures where most filmmakers fear to tread.
The film is at its sharpest when Ali infiltrates America’s far right. Disguised as a former Israeli soldier offering to train local politicians to combat illegal immigration, he quickly ingratiates himself with some truly unsavoury characters. The results are often hilarious, but the laughter carries an uneasy aftertaste. Watching these individuals expose their prejudices and ignorance, oblivious to the joke, is both astonishing and deeply revealing.
Perhaps most disturbing is how little Baron Cohen often needs to do to make his subjects appear ridiculous. In an America splintered by MAGA politics and Trump’s brand of populism, absurdity frequently speaks for itself. Reality, as always, remains a formidable rival to satire.
Elsewhere, having failed to convince HBO to rehire him, Ali’s way in is a far-right-leaning TV producer who recruits him to front his own show about free speech. The producer sees a malleable mouthpiece, someone daft enough to say the quiet part out loud, bit what he doesn;t realise is that the joke is on him.
Baron Cohen doesn’t fully silence critics who accuse him of cultural appropriation, nor does he need to for the film to succeed. His comedy remains messy, sometimes cheap, and certainly not always defensible. Yet there’s real courage in confronting powerful, bigoted figures without dulling the punchline.
Ali G Who Iz I? shows real bravery. Granted, his film is far from perfect, but it’s frequently inspires. Most importantly, it reminds us that satire can still sting when aimed with precision.
