‘Ladies First’ Review: Sacha Baron Cohen in Netflix Comedy

You don’t have to have seen the 2018 French film on which it’s based to predict exactly where Ladies First is going every step of the way. This comic tale of an arrogant, sexist male executive who gets his comeuppance when he hits his head and wakes up to find himself in a world dominated by women hits every satirical note you’d expect but provides more knowing chuckles than genuine laughs. An almost ridiculously overqualified cast of notable British thespians does their best to elevate the material of this Netflix comedy directed by Thea Sharrock (Wicked Little Letters, Me Before You), but it’s heavy lifting.

Sacha Baron Cohen, unusually not relying on changing his vocal and physical attributes for comic effect, plays Damien, an advertising company executive who revels in his misogynistic attitudes and playboy lifestyle. He’s looking forward to an upcoming promotion at the hands of his boss (Charles Dance), swaggering through the office to the strains of “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” (one of far too many on-the-nose soundtrack selections).

Most egregiously, he treats fellow executive Alex (Rosamund Pike) horribly condescendingly during company meetings strategizing over an ad campaign for their latest client, Guinness. He treats her so badly, in fact, that she quits. But during their subsequent angry encounter out on the street, Damien runs smack into a pole and knocks himself out.

It’s not hard to guess what happens next, as he wakes up in a topsy-turvy world where the agency’s receptionist (Fiona Shaw) is now the CEO and the cleaning woman (Kathryn Hunter) a top executive. Alex is very much in charge, and the men at the agency, including Damien and his former boss, are treated derisively, the sexism very much in reverse.

Things are equally akilter in his family’s home, with his mother now sitting on the couch watching TV while his father slaves away in the kitchen. And his accomplished dentist sister (Emily Mortimer) amuses herself greatly with fart jokes.

Damien attempts to get things back to normal by slamming his head again, to no avail. So now, fueled by advice from an eccentric street person (Richard E. Grant) who has multiple pigeons perched on his head, he attempts to rise up the corporate ranks again using masculine wiles. It’s not easy, since when he attempts to make suggestions at a corporate strategy mission, he’s told such things as “You need to relax” and “Don’t get too emotional.” 

Screenwriters Natalie Krinsky, Cinco Paul and Katie Silberman clearly seem to have enjoyed reversing every sexist stereotype they could think of with such gags as female construction workers ogling Damien on the street; his attempting to become “fuckable” for career advancement through such things as a “testicle bra” and body waxing (cue The 40-Year-Old Virgin-style screams of pain); and, of course, ordering a plain salad for dinner instead of steak.

And when Damien and Alex do wind up in bed together even though she’s now his boss, they engage in a wrestling match over which one of them will be on top.

It’s mildly amusing but all so obvious, including the sexual reversals evident on such book titles as “Harriet Potter” and “Donna Quixote” and retail outlets like “Burger Queen” and “Victor’s Secret.” Not to mention the female Pope Beatrice.

The film moves swiftly enough, with the gags coming at such a consistent pace, that inevitably some of them land. And the performers certainly know how to sell the material, with Cohen amusingly leaning into his character’s humiliations, Pike appealingly reveling in her character’s dominance, and the top-notch supporting cast going through their paces like the pros they are.

But long before Alex inverts the stereotypical male/female dynamic by showing no interest in a relationship after she and Damien have their one-night stand, you realize that despite its high concept, Ladies First is hopelessly old-fashioned in its satirical conceit. No points for guessing that Damien will have seen the past error of his ways by the film’s conclusion.