Quick Read
- ‘Ladies First’ holds a 17% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes.
- The film is an adaptation of the 2018 French movie ‘Je Ne Suis Pas Un Homme Facile’.
- Fans are pivoting back to Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2019 acclaimed series ‘The Spy’.
A Critical Misstep in Satire
Netflix’s latest original film, Ladies First, directed by Thea Sharrock and starring Sacha Baron Cohen and Rosamund Pike, has been met with a wave of negative reception following its May 22, 2026, premiere. Despite a high-profile cast that includes industry veterans such as Charles Dance, Fiona Shaw, and Richard E. Grant, the film currently holds a dismal 17% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics have labeled the production “excruciatingly unfunny” and “blunt caricature,” suggesting that the film’s attempt to satirize gender dynamics fails to resonate in a contemporary context.
Conceptual Failure and Execution
Adapted from the 2018 French film Je Ne Suis Pas Un Homme Facile (I Am Not an Easy Man), Ladies First centers on Damien Sachs (Cohen), a chauvinistic advertising executive who is transported to an alternate universe where traditional gender roles are inverted. While the premise—a reversal of power dynamics—offers potential for social commentary, reviewers have criticized the execution as retro and lacking in nuance. The film relies heavily on dated tropes and product placement, which critics argue undermines its stated goal of challenging male dominance.
The Pivot to ‘The Spy’
As the reception to Ladies First continues to sour, Netflix subscribers are increasingly turning their attention back to Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2019 limited series, The Spy. In this project, Cohen departs from his trademark crude comedy to portray Eli Cohen, the real-life Mossad operative who infiltrated the Syrian government in the 1960s. The series, which holds an 86% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, stands in stark contrast to his latest comedic venture, offering a tense, historically grounded narrative that has been hailed by audiences as a “must-watch masterpiece.”
The juxtaposition between the poor reception of ‘Ladies First’ and the sustained acclaim for ‘The Spy’ highlights a growing audience demand for substantive storytelling over superficial, trope-heavy comedy. While Sacha Baron Cohen remains a formidable name in the entertainment industry, the failure of his latest project suggests that viewers are increasingly discerning, preferring complex character studies over the formulaic, “groan-worthy” satire that characterized his most recent Netflix release.