Phil Hubbs Well alongside his fame and fortune Sacha Baron Cohen has also managed to achieve such a high level of notoriety with his urban character, that the actual town of Staines changed its name to Staines-upon-Thames to get away from the negativity. That's pretty impressive Mr Cohen, you made an English town change its historic name, is that funny?.Like many TV characters that have reached the big screen this whole thing feels padded out, forced and struggling for material. Unfortunately this is no different despite being a brilliant and popular creation by Cohen. I think it was a bad choice to go down the actual movie with a plot route as we all know this character like all of Cohen's characters works better when lampooning reality. Seeing the highly naive and thick Ali G trying to strike a conversation with a real politician about current affairs only for him to lower the tone and go off on completely random filthy tangent is what its all about. Hearing Ali comment on his bitch 'Julie' or his various friends from Staines and the things they get up too is amusing to listen too, but to actually now see these people spoils the myth as it were.Of course the biggest draw with Ali G is the highly accurate satirical mocking of young British teens (black and white) who imitate the American rapper gang culture. This is the crux of his laughs, his not so secret weapon, talking with this modern day slang cum multicultural cockney hip-hop dialect that is frankly cringeworthy to listen too when anyone speaks with it, especially white folk. Add to that his heavily Jamaican/Afro American/UK chav influenced streetwise attire with bling, tracksuits and big trainers and you have a great controversial character ready for upset public figures.Thing is all of this is completely lost in the film because there is none of that, its just a silly bland plot about Ali trying to save a community centre in Staines. There are no funny clever stinging moments because its a scripted movie, instead they must rely on childish toilet humour which only works part of the time, its immediately unoriginal and loses all credibility. Coupled with the fact the cast is made up of big names merely sinks this project even further, big names equals no risks, no proper laughs, no awkwardness or embarrassing moments, its all played safe which is not what Cohen and his creations are about.Now I would be lying if I said there were no funny moments in this film, there aren't many but they are there. For me personally the best and most recognisable lampooning of my home country would be at the start of the film when Ali is 'street racing' in his hyper modded Renault down the high street. This very short sequence is extremely amusing because of the stringent UK road laws and the fact we have to drive at 20-30mph everywhere. Watching these two uber modded cars crawl down the high street at 30...pulling up sharply at the 20mph speed board is hilarious, literately the best bit in the film.Its actually reasonably funny during the start of the film whilst Ali is within his home territory of Staines and his mates. After that as we follow him to Westminster it just loses any fresh comedy hopes and becomes so derivative, the character of Ali G does grow somewhat but only in the wrong way. Instead of the chavy boorish dunderhead we all know and love we end up with some Americanised superfly looking pimp that just feels too much of a stretch even for this character. We all know about the typical UK traits that Ali G represents, we all roll our eyes at the image he portrays because we all see it in our daily lives, that's why its so funny. If you take that away and go down another countries cultural route then your target audience won't relate to it anymore, simple as that.In the end this film has just gone too far over the top with the character and its just not funny. Had it been a mockumentary style flick like 'Borat' then it would have worked I'm sure, but this option doesn't. Its basically puerile with dated stupid visuals gags and must resort to showing Charles Dance in drag to try and raise a laugh, and it fails at that. Such a huge huge error for the direction of this film that has resulted in a very very average outcome.4/10

FilmBuff1994 Ali G Indahouse is a decent movie with a bad storyline but it makes up for it with a ton of very funny scenes and a very likable performance as Ali G from Sacha Baron Cohen.Ali G is definitely not my favourite character Sacha Baron Cohen created,and the brief cameo Borat has in this movie just reminded me that he is much funnier than Ali G.I think that Martin Freeman was a bad decision,I always like him in everything he's in,but he is usually a very calm character,and Ricky C just wasn't the right role for him.Fans of the series Da Ali G Show will probably be disappointed with this movie,but will still enjoy the many laugh out loud scenes,and Ali G is a very likable character.While protesting to save his beloved leisure center,Ali G gets caught up with the Prime Minister and makes the government for liked than they've ever been,but the Chancellor has is own plans set up against the Prime Minister.

oneguyrambling Forget Will Ferrell and the Judd Apatow school of improv where actors get 5 and 6 goes at coming up with various punchlines in scenes (Ferrell usually makes his "hilarious" by yelling them out for no reason), try it unscripted and on the fly with a non-actor who may or may not punch you depending on their mood.To that end I fully recognise that Sacha Baron Cohen is an improv genius, Borat and Bruno both proved that beyond doubt. (He was also the funniest thing in Madagascar 1 or 2 by far.) But the first character to bring him notoriety was Ali G, the wannabe black gangster-pimp who is actually a middle class white boy from Britain.Perhaps it is because a lot of his comedy comes from shock value but I rarely choose to revisit the Bruno or Borat movies, they are far less cringe-worthy the second time round, and I was pretty surprised to find that this film had aged so poorly as I remembered it as a near classic.Not now Mr G.Aaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiight let's go.Ali G Indahouse opens with the best scene in the film, a dream sequence that sees Ali in his "natural habitat", the Los Angeles mean streets, surrounded by bitches and beset on all sides by hard core playas determined to do him harm. Of course he pulls out his gat (or equivalent) and busts many caps indeed.Cut to real life, Ali is actually a suburban dwelling gangsta-by-choice, with a similar posse of tossers (including Martin Freeman) in tow. They wear all yellow. Their nemesis gang is the East Staines Massive who wear blue and are equally (not) hard.When the local government closes down the local recreation centre Ali decides to protest to keep it open. Fortunately the Deputy Prime Minister (Charles Dance) sees an opportunity to submarine the Prime Minister's (Michael Gambon) standing and promptly announced that Ali G will be running for parliament in the local by-election.Ali's campaigning does not go well at all but a monumental gaffe in a televised debate by his opponent helps Ali become an unexpected success.Once in parliament the continually ludicrously dressed Ali and his similarly ridiculous boasting are taken as the voice of a generation and he promptly joins the cabinet and becomes the PM's go-to guy on all policy matters.After brokering a peace treaty by utilising tea laced with natural 'erbs Ali G is sacked, and the PM resigns when a tape of Ali boning his missus is released.Of course Ali must break into the new PM's office and fix tings.Maybe I'm ten years older and this just isn't as funny anymore, maybe it never really was. There are more chuckles in this than many other comedies, the recent Get him to the Greek and Date Night included, but no side-splitting moments of comedic brilliance.There is a funny sms joke near the end and Charles Dance proves himself to be a good sport, but without the "this is real" edge supplied by Borat and Bruno this seems a little too try-hard.I firmly believe though that Sacha Baron Cohen will make two or three truly brilliant comedies in years to come.Final Rating – 6.5 / 10. It is telling that the two scenes with almost no relevance to the main plot are the funniest, that being the first 5 minutes and the last 5.

Boba_Fett1138 This is actually a quite lame comedy with some extremely childish humor but it all still somewhat works out due to the presence of the legendary Ali G character in it all.Even though this movie has basically nothing to do with the "Da Ali G Show" the character still works out as well in this movie. It's of course a ridicules and outrageous character but he's all the more hilarious because of it. It's obviously a satire on the whole rap and hip hop scene and it's still Sacha Baron Cohen most legendary character, despite the successes he has had with Borat and Brüno.The movie has some very childish humor, which mostly is about sex and it has an almost non-existent story. It's just the kind of movie in which the story really doesn't matter. It's all purely about the main character. Even the lamest and most predictable movie in this movie will still surely make you laugh a couple of times. "Ali G Indahouse" is not the most hilarious movie ever made or the best thing Sacha Baron Cohen has done in his life but it's good enough for a couple of dumb silly laughs. Still the movie gives you the feeling it has more misses than hits in it but jokes are bombarded at you so fast that you just tend to sort of forget the movie its weaker moments and enjoy the movie its more funny moments.Quite amazing actually that respected actors such as Michael Gambon and Charles Dance appeared in this type of movie. Or perhaps they knew of Ali G's success and just wanted to be a part of it. Still I feel that when looking back at it they won't regard this as their finest moment.Good enough for a couple of dumb laughs.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/