Netflix’s Ladies First is a feminist revenge fantasy in search of a plot

Sacha Baron Cohen’s comedies have always been political. On the surface, they present as bawdy but broadly accessible provocations, such as Borat’s Eastern European caricature. But amid the gags, there is almost always a leftist-coded grievance waiting to be aired. Borat, for instance, was as scornful of Southerners and then-President George W. Bush as it was of its fictional Kazakh buffoon. The Dictator, Cohen’s last truly great film, in its third act, features a lengthy tirade about how America shares many of the same foibles as Islamic tyrannies. Rarely, though, have these political interludes overwhelmed his otherwise outlandish and obscene comic instincts.

Which brings us to Ladies First, Cohen’s latest Netflix comedy, directed by Thea Sharrock. A remake of the 2018 French film I Am Not an Easy Man, it is a feminist fantasy somewhere between Freaky Friday, What Women Want, and Barbie, though without the charm or wit of any of them. It is fueled instead by the comedic charisma of a workplace HR seminar delivered by Hannah Gadsby.

Cohen plays Damien Sachs, a marketing executive and general Don Juan who, to borrow a phrase from The Big Lebowski, “treats objects like women.” He plays the role with deceptive ease, naturally suited to the sort of hubris and casual condescension the archetype requires. Damien is so brazenly offensive at the office that his assistant keeps a running document titled “Things Damien Said in Case I Get Fired,” as insurance.

When his firm’s board of directors, ostensibly driven by diversity, equity, and inclusion directives, pressures him to broaden his male-dominated leadership team, Damien selects a random woman for promotion. Played by Rosamund Pike, she happens to be Alex, chosen alphabetically.

The first management meeting Alex attends plays like fan fiction written by liberal screenwriters who have never held an office job, at least not in the past 30 years. Making even Mad Men appear progressive by contrast, Damien and his male colleagues sit around debating increasingly raunchy ways to market Guinness to women while ignoring, interrupting, and talking over Alex, the only woman in the room.

The film’s central gimmick begins after Damien dismisses Alex’s frustration by informing her that she is merely a quota-filling PR prop. Following an unexpected fall that knocks him unconscious, Damien wakes up in a parallel matriarchal universe where women rule the corporate world.

Sacha Baron Cohen (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Suddenly, Damien finds himself on the bottom rung of a female-dominated corporate ladder, with Alex now installed as his boss. He is a forlorn male minority, like a husband stranded in Sephora. In this bizarre new world, he is constantly chided about his appearance, instructed to wear “push-up underwear,” and catcalled on the street. It is never confirmed, but in this Woman-Wakanda, I suspect Kamala Harris is president and Taylor Swift is secretary of state.

Back at the office, Damien’s female superiors constantly ask why he is being emotional, whether he is on “the pill,” and if it is his “time of the week.” The intention, presumably, is to give a sexist womanizer a dose of his own behavior. But the unmistakable takeaway is comically self-defeating. If women were in charge, the film suggests, they would behave just as crudely, aggressively, and offensively as they accuse men of behaving now. Talk about projection. Draw whatever conclusions you will from the fact that the men in this matriarchal Matrix are curiously feminized, adorned in flamboyant scarves and flashy colors, frequent spin classes, and live with cats.

Before long, Damien is visited by what amounts to a Dickensian ghost of misogyny past, who informs him that the only way to return to his former life is to fight his way back to the CEO role in this unforgiving corporate matriarchy. To spare you the anguish of sitting through this tripe, Damien proceeds to sleep, manipulate, and scheme his way to the top. The lesson, apparently, was best described by The Who: “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Eventually, Damien bests his empowered female competitors and becomes CEO. Who would have thought? Even when women run the world, the man still finds a way to succeed. So what is your excuse, ladies? This may not have been the film’s intended message, but then again, I am not entirely sure what its intended message is. I will note that at no point does the camera pan to Texas or Wyoming to show us women operating oil rigs or laboring in coal mines. Matriarchy, according to this film, seems to amount to controlling advertising firms and humiliating men in conference rooms, while wearing expensive pantsuits.

NORMAL REVIVES THE AMERICAN LAWMAN

The wasted talent in this film is also striking. Ladies First features such venerable performers as Fiona Shaw, Charles Dance, Richard E. Grant, Emily Mortimer, and Pike. Ironically, Cohen has a sizable divorce settlement to pay out, but what is everyone else doing here?

Ladies First is a deranged revenge fantasy desperately in search of a plot. It does not find one. It would perhaps be hailed as one of the decade’s most progressive comedies if the decade were the 1950s. As a contemporary satire, it is a dated, hackneyed battle-of-the-sexes relic churned out of Netflix’s streaming slop pipeline. A power trip with no self-awareness, it is like arguing with an AI chatbot until it finally agrees with you. The only thing genuinely funny about Ladies First is that Netflix undoubtedly paid Cohen far more than his female co-stars.

Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) is a film critic for the Washington Examiner. He is a software engineer, holds a master’s degree from the University of Toronto, and writes about wine at BetweenBottles.com