‘Ladies First’ Review Roundup: Sacha Baron Cohen’s New Comedy Debuts With Surprising Rotten Tomatoes Score

Netflix’s new comedy Ladies First is getting a rough response from critics following its release on May 22. The film currently holds a 17% score on Rotten Tomatoes based on early reviews, while audience reactions are somewhat more positive with a 56% Popcornmeter score.

Directed by Thea Sharrock, the movie is inspired by the 2018 French film I Am Not an Easy Man by Éléonore Pourriat. The comedy stars Sacha Baron Cohen and Rosamund Pike alongside Charles Dance, Emily Mortimer, Richard E. Grant, Fiona Shaw, and Tom Davis.

The story follows Damien Sachs, played by Cohen, a wealthy advertising executive who constantly looks down on women in the workplace.

After lying to secure a business deal by pretending his company promotes women into leadership roles, Damien pushes longtime employee Alex Fox, played by Pike, into a creative director position. But things quickly fall apart when Alex realizes she is not being respected and quits after overhearing Damien mocking her promotion.

Soon after, Damien hits his head and wakes up in a completely different version of society where women hold the power and men face the same sexism women deal with in his own world. The movie then follows his attempt to adjust to the reversed reality.

While the setup gave the film a lot of attention before release, many critics feel the execution does not work. Several reviews published after the Netflix debut described the comedy as heavy-handed and repetitive.

William Bibbiani from TheWrap gave the movie a negative review and wrote, “Goes to great lengths to be two different kinds of movies, a light comedy and a harsh morality tale, but the balance is never quite right.”

Benjamin Lee from The Guardian was even harsher, giving the film a 1 out of 5 score. He wrote, “…for a film so unashamedly silly, it’s also incredibly, tiresomely un-fun and, by the end, laughably earnest, as if we should all be learning a very important lesson.”

Todd Jorgenson from Cinemalogue also criticized the movie’s humor, saying, “Without a hint of subtlety or surprise, too many of the gags fall flat as the one-joke premise funnels into a predictable arc of comeuppance and redemption.”

The Financial Times review from Danny Leigh gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and joked, “Sacha Baron Cohen is knocked unconscious early in Netflix comedy Ladies First, a film that only sometimes makes you wish the same for yourself.”

Katie Rife from RogerEbert.com said the film had ideas worth discussing but pushed them too far, writing, “It makes some valid points, then proceeds to beat them to death.”

Not every review was negative, however. Rachel Wagner from Rachel’s Reviews gave the movie a more positive reaction and said, “I laughed quite a bit. It leans into stereotypes but it’s funny.”

Variety’s Todd Gilchrist focused on the performances, especially the dynamic between the two leads. He wrote, “The most interesting read on ‘Ladies First’ is a metatextual one, where Cohen’s most famous creation, the cheerfully chauvinistic Borat, gets emotionally vivisected by Pike’s calculating ‘Gone Girl’ character, Amy Dunne.”

Even with the low critic score, the movie is already getting attention online because of its cast, controversial humor, and gender-swapped concept. Whether audiences end up embracing it more than critics remains to be seen as more viewers stream the film on Netflix over the coming weeks.

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