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Stars:
Sacha Baron Cohen, Michael Gambon, Charles Dance, Kellie Bright, Martin Freeman,
Rhona Mitra, Barbara New, and Emilio Rivera
Writers:
Sacha Baron Cohen and Dan Mazer
Director:
Mark Mylod
Feature
length: 1 hour and 28 minutes
Extras:
Commentary By Ali G, Deleted Scenes, Behind-The-Scenes Featurette, Learn To Talk
Like Ali G Featurette, Photo Gallery Trailers
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish Language
Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 20
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of DVD Release: 2004
Home
Video Distributor: Universal Studios Home Video
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
I
am not sure if this film was ever released theatrically in America, but on HBO,
ALI G is a hit with his various characters and hilarious satire. When I was
watching “ALI G Indahouse: The Movie” I thought it was going to be a
collection of skits with his characters from the HBO TV series or maybe the
original British program, However the film focuses on Ali G (Sacha Baron Cohen)
as he attempts to save a youth center, which takes him to Parliament where he
gets entangled in a plot hatched by a nefarious chancellor (Charles Dance) to
overthrow and disgrace the Prime Minister of England (Michael Gambon).
Unfortunately much of the humor of the film never quite lives up to his
stunts from the TV series and at times some of it borders on idiocy. What makes
the entire experience worse is that the film’s opening sequences are so funny
as well as a bit gross that nothing else ever quite equals the beginning
segment. In fact one wishes that if he was going to base a film solely around
one character, he perhaps might have ditched the plot and instead go for
something more freewheeling.
Presented
in an anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio with English Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround Sound, “ALI G Indahouse: The Movie” looks and sounds terrific on
DVD. English Captions for the hearing impaired and Japanese, Korean, Portuguese
and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded onto the disc as options. In
character, Cohen along with one of his co-stars in character provides a feature
length audio commentary for the film. However after 90 minutes of just Ali G, I
found it difficult to sit through and listen to another 90 minutes of Ali G
talking about his film as if it were all real. In small doses though, Cohen’s
character is great as can be seen in the extra value materials included on the
disc.
In
some ways I found the behind-the-scenes featurette (11:49) with Cohen in
character talking to various people while giving the viewer a tour of some of
the locations to be funnier than the film itself. Cohen as Ali G also provides a
video introduction for a reel of deleted scenes (22:14), a motion photo gallery
(1:14) and a hilarious short with scenes from the film where Ali G’s slang is
translated into proper English (2:18). Two teaser trailers that run at (: 53)
and (1:20) respectively as well as the theatrical trailer (2:06) and a reel of
Universal Studios Home Video previews that include “Dazed And Confused,”
“Fast Times At Ridgemont High,’ “Happy Gilmore,” “Billy Madison,”
“Shaun Of The Dead,” and “Drunken Jackasses: The Quest” (5:03) wrap up
the bonus features on this DVD.
The
menus feature animated scene transitions to standard interactive still frames
that are easy to navigate. While not as funny as his TV show, I’m sure there
are some fans that will gain enjoyment from “ALI G Indahouse: The Movie,”
which is now available on DVD-Video in separate widescreen and full screen
editions and have nearly identical features at retailers on offline courtesy of
Universal Studios Home Video.
©
Copyright 2004 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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