Ali G In The House
Ali G Indahouse is a 2002 British comedy film written by Sacha Baron Cohen and Dan Mazer, directed by Mark Mylod, and starring Baron Cohen as Ali G, the character he originally played on the Channel 4 comedy series The 11 O'Clock Show and Da Ali G Show. It is the first of four films based on Baron Cohen's characters from Da Ali G Show, followed by Borat (2006), Brüno (2009), and Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020). It is the only one of these films to consist solely of a fictional narrative with no mockumentary element.
Ali G In The House
Staines residents have reminisced about the filming of Ali G Indahouse, which celebrates its 20 year anniversary on Tuesday (March 22 2022). They shared memories of filming and a fondness for the show's star Sacha Baron Cohen who took the time to sign everything from baseball caps to paper plates.
Ali G in da House (Originaltitel: Ali G Indahouse) ist eine Filmkomödie aus dem Jahr 2002. Sacha Baron Cohen, der auch das Drehbuch schrieb, spielt darin seine bis dahin bekannteste Figur, den Möchtegern-Gangsta-Rapper Ali G, den er mit seiner Comedy-Sendung Da Ali G Show populär gemacht hatte. Regie führte Mark Mylod.
Ali G Indahouse is a 2002 comedy film about Sacha Baron Cohen's character Ali G and how he is recruited to be a minister for Staines, his home district in London. But then he learns the government is much more sinister.
The first movie based on Da Ali G Show, Ali G Indahouse was later followed up by Borat and Brüno (2009), which gave the same big screen treatment to Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev and fashion designer Brüno. Interestingly, Indahouse is Baron Cohen's only film to ditch the show's Mockumentary format entirely, incorporating a full cast of fictional characters (and quite a few recognizable actors) to prop up Ali's antics.
Allowed to take just one colleague to the premiere of Ali G Indahouse, I anticipate ugly scenes in the office, possibly involving cuss words and Uzis. After all, Ali is a popular fellow. A black wannabe, straight outta Staines, Mr G is fixated on brand names and the size of his penis ("phallogocentric" probably isn't a word he would use to describe himself, but it fits him to a T). More importantly, he's a modern-day icon thanks to his skewering of condescending, invariably middle-class "experts" on Channel 4's Da Ali G Show, and his taste for airing flagrant slang (such as "punani") on Radio 1. He's loved by young and old and Madonna. And yet, incredibly, I find myself trekking off to Leicester Square on my own. The thought occurs: Iz it because I iz smelly?
Ah well, you live and learn. Ali G Indahouse, written by Cohen with his regular collaborator Dan Mazer, and directed by first-timer Mark Mylod, starts well, with Ali cruising in South Central LA, saving "hos" and receiving blow jobs in reward. The camera zips around to thumping rap, the sight of our naive superfly up against hardcore Latinos genuinely amusing, the cultural cringe in reverse. But when that dream pops it's not hos servicing Ali's private parts, but his dog, 2 Pac so does the film. The mongrel gnaws away under the bedclothes; Ali's sweet old granny wanders in and (twist!) tells him off for getting blown by a dog. It's just started and already you feel your whole body trembling with the urge to yawn.
The rumour, inevitably, is that in being reduced from an original cut running over two hours, the film is but a shadow of its former self. I'm a sucker for any conspiracy theory and am therefore happy to believe that much of what's wrong with Ali G Indahouse has been caused by the cold feet of those cautious Working Title producers, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. The sharpest scenes wrap up too soon. Ali's sensual sucking of the Queen's finger, for example, during a visit to the Palace, is properly astounding. She's the only plain, middle-aged woman he does fancy and when he pulls down her pants ("A shaven haven" he muses dreamily. "Respect!"), you want to know how she reacts (how nice if she'd been amused).