Can Ali G: Who Iz I? save character comedy cinema?

Sacha Baron Cohen’s new film risks being outdated in a more rancorous era. But could it restore the personality-driven genre to big screens or end it altogether? For a man whose campaign slogan was once “Keep it real”, Ali G has his work cut out in the reality of 2026. The big do

Sacha Baron Cohen’s new film risks being outdated in a more rancorous era. But could it restore the personality-driven genre to big screens or end it altogether? For a man whose campaign slogan was once “Keep it real”, Ali G has his work cut out in the reality of 2026.

The big dog of Da West Staines Massiv was the character with whom Sacha Baron Cohen carved out his own niche of gonzo-gotcha comedy in the late 1990s – and now he’s back with new film, Ali G: Who Iz I? But it’s unclear if his great creation has gone sufficiently fallow in the collective consciousness to still operate well in real-life situations, the kind of lethal idiot who once pitched Donald Trump anti-drip ice-cream gloves. And more critically, is the Ali G satirical project – which poked at 90s multicultural mores – still relevant and funny in far more rancorous times?

It’s not just Baron Cohen’s career as an undercover operative that’s on the line. It’s the future of character-led comedy as a going concern, now that he seems to be the last man standing in this once-noble tradition – in cinemas, at least. To be clear, character comedy isn’t merely comedy with characters; it’s comedy filtered through a central persona that overlaps with the comedian playing it and whose subversive sensibility colours the entire work.

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