Him Iz

Sacha Baron Cohen takes aim at political partisans in America with 2026's Ali G: Who Iz I? Maybe he pissed off too many people because Amazon abruptly truncated the film's release down to three days in 125 theatres before dumping it directly to streaming, with a result that the $160 million budgeted film grossed just around $2 million. It seems the era of prankster mocumentary is dead, unless you count You Can See Everything. Maybe it's just that the gatekeepers aren't as easy-going. I thought it was funny and a worthy reminder of how easily people can be duped by a confident con man, though I can see why a lot of people don't appreciate that reminder.

Cohen returns to his character of Ali G who, in this film, goes to Hollywood with his pregnant girlfriend, Julie (Morgana Robinson). He hopes to revive his career as an entertainer while questioning his identity after being called a "cultural appropriator" by a leftwing professor (also played by Cohen) and being targeted by a former Mossad agent (also played by Cohen) for attempting to have his baby born a naturalised American citizen. As in his former Borat and Ali G movies and television series, Cohen dupes a number of politicians and partisan citizens into going along with his gonzo plot. The most extreme scene involves the birth of Ali's child and the things the anti-immigration guys are willing to do completely drained any sympathy I may have had for them being misled. Newt Gingrich and a number of other rightwing politicians are also duped into supporting Ali's new game show in which contestants, including George Santos, shepherd immigrants into gas chambers.

Maybe Cohen would've gotten away with all this except his leftwing professor character, Nira Cain-N'Degeocello, enlists a group of real social justice warriors to aid him in apparently breaking into Ali's home and sexually assaulting him. I don't know if this is what pissed Amazon off but it wouldn't surprise me. I know I'm myself by far in the minority in finding both extremes of American political ideologies to be ridiculous so it's kind of nice to know Cohen agrees with me. Well, it may be cold comfort.

Ali G: Who Iz I? is available on Amazon Prime.