The Brothers Grimsby

While I did not hate the latest film from gross-out master Sacha Baron Cohen "The Brothers Grimsby," I will readily admit that it is one of those films that consists primarily of moments; a few shine through while the vast majority fall flat.
"The Brothers Grimsby" is about a football hooligan and simpleton named Nobby (Cohen), who's spent his whole adult life looking for his missing brother Sebastian (Mark Strong), who has since become a spy for M16. Many shenanigans ensue, facilitated by Nobby's nonsense, until that same idiocy saves the world.
The problems with this film lie within how over the top everything is, with the gross out humor failing to straddle the line between ridiculously funny and just plain ridiculous with any real skill, and often falling into the former. If you're a fan of gross gross-out humor, or if you can make it through the homophobic incest jokes, things-in-butts jokes, a sex scene that was almost funny until it was later revealed to be a rape and an elephant vagina (much like our heroes did), there are shining moments.

For one thing, the film is skillfully and incredibly shot. Action filmmaker Louis Leterrier was brought in to direct, and the film has some of the most breathtakingly choreographed fight scenes, car chases and stunts. Additionally, the cast is strong and rather impressive, considering the film. Even with the pure insanity that was this script, actors like Strong, Penelope Cruz, Gabourey Sidibe and Ian McShane signed up, stayed and played their roles with the utmost conviction.

As for the Blu Ray itself, in the age of digital downloads and film streaming, I strongly believe there needs to be sufficient extra features to warrant purchasing a hard copy, and this is one of the places where "The Brothers Grimsby" delivers. If you liked the film, you'll love the special features.

The disc contains all the goodies you've come to expect from a hard copy of a film, plus a few extra extras. Sadly, the content, including a gag reel, deleted scenes, a making of and an in-depth making of the elephant scene feature (I swear that pun wasn't intentional), clocks in at just around 30 minutes.

While many people did not like the film (or even saw it), there are those, I'm sure, who thoroughly enjoyed it. If you did, you won't be too disappointed if you pick up the Blu Ray, too.