An average movie

I didn't expect much from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Sacha Baron Cohen, I was still eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I'm not surprised that it turned out to be a flop at the box-office. First of all, I really loved 'Borat', in my opinion, it is the best comedy from the last 20 years but, unfortunately, everything Baron Cohen has delivered afterwards has been increasingly disappointing and this flick turned out to be his weakest so far, I'm afraid. I mean, the concept definitely had some potential, Mark Strong was also a great choice to play Baron Cohen's brother and he definitely did what he could with this material. I have to admit that there were a couple of really funny scenes but, eventually, the damned thing never really worked. Of course, I always had a hard time to have fun with a terribly moronic character but that wasn't even the biggest issue with this flick. Indeed, what they really messed up was the action part and I would blame Louis Leterrier. Sure, Leterrier has a decent track record as an action director ('The Transporter' franchise, 'The Incredible Hulk' , 'Clash of the Titans'), it is understandable that the producers chose him but, eventually, he never managed to make it entertaining enough, and, at times, it felt like watching a video games to be honest. Another director like Doug Liman or Paul Greengrass could have delivered some gritty realism which would have provided an interesting contrast with Baron Cohen irreverent sense of humor. Anyway, to conclude, even if I have seen worse, the damned thing was still pretty weak and I don't think it is really worth a look. 

5/10