Ali G Indahouse

Sacha Baron Cohen's character of Ali G is hilarious. Sadly, this movie is not. In what is Ali G's first and probably last attempt at a feature film, Cohen risks the credibility of his talents by delivering a very crude and often unfunny effort at transferring his clever television series to the big screen. Ali G is heading up the Keep It Real class down at the local youth centre, but after the program is shut down, our hip-hop hero turns to the government to save his class. When the Deputy Prime Minister sees how much of a complete knucklehead Ali is, he concocts a plan to get him into Parliament, demolish the Prime Minister's credibility and force the current PM's resignation. The plan doesn't go quite like that and soon Ali is regarded as a national hero for the new generation, mingling with world leaders and stuffy old white men. Lame. But at this point you already realise that the movie is rubbish, so it really doesn't matter that the plot has been used countless times in the majority of comedies that came out in the '80s and you just start to wish that Cohen never made this film in the first place. There are some moments that hint as to why Ali G is truly brilliant, but they are few and far between and never match the level of Cohen's adlibbed segments. Still, the "Planet Rock" break-in scene is the bomb. The audio commentary with Cohen and Martin Freeman (who plays Ricky C) could have been a saving grace, but it's performed in character and gets a little tiresome after the 30-minute mark, especially when they're trying to speak over the film's speedy garage soundtrack. The deleted scenes are the best feature of this DVD, with quick, amusing snippets, including the discovery of a Kinder Egg toy during Ali's cavity search, more insight into his goth past via an embarrassing home video, as well as a rather lengthy alternate ending with Naomi Campbell. The behind-the-scenes feature is decent, especially given the fact that the on the street interviews with cast and crew is where Ali G is at his peak. Why didn't they just do this for 90-minutes instead? Plus: learn to talk like Ali G, photo gallery. (Universal)