Sacha Baron Cohen
Damien Sachs
Overview
An arrogant but charismatic ladies' man finds his life of money, power and casual flings upended when he wakes up in a parallel world dominated by women.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
6 min readThe Joke’s on Whom?
I’ll admit it: I laughed. Not at the right moments, maybe, but I laughed. Ladies First is the kind of movie that thinks it’s smarter than it is, which is both its charm and its undoing. The premise is simple—arrogant, womanizing ad exec Damien Sachs wakes up in a parallel world where women hold all the power, and men are reduced to decorative accessories—and the execution is uneven, swinging between sharp satire and lazy stereotype.
But there’s something undeniably satisfying about watching Sacha Baron Cohen, of all people, get his comeuppance in a world where the tables have turned. The question is whether the film earns that satisfaction or just coasts on it.
Thea Sharrock’s direction is slick, almost too slick. The film moves at a brisk 94 minutes, but it often feels like it’s in a hurry to get to the next joke rather than letting any of them land. The parallel world is visually striking—think The Man in the High Castle meets Mad Men, with a corporate aesthetic that’s all glass and steel, but with a distinctly feminine edge.
The color palette is cool blues and grays, punctuated by the occasional burst of pink or gold, as if to remind us that this is a world where women are in charge, but not necessarily any kinder for it. The production design is the film’s strongest suit, a constant visual gag that reinforces the absurdity of the premise. But the satire?
That’s where things get messy.
Take the scene where Damien, now a lowly intern in this matriarchal society, is forced to fetch coffee for his female boss. It’s a classic role-reversal setup, and for a moment, it works. The camera lingers on his discomfort, the way his shoulders hunch as he’s ordered around, the way the women in the room barely acknowledge his presence.
It’s a small moment, but it’s effective because it’s grounded in something real—the everyday indignities women face in male-dominated spaces. But then the film undercuts itself. The boss, Alex Fox (Rosamund Pike), delivers a monologue about how men have had it coming, and the moment shifts from satire to sermon.
The film wants to have it both ways: it wants to critique sexism, but it also wants to revel in the fantasy of women getting revenge. The result is a tonal whiplash that never quite resolves.
Pike is the film’s secret weapon. She’s magnetic in the role of Alex Fox, a high-powered CEO who’s equal parts intimidating and alluring. There’s a scene where she interviews Damien for a job, and the power dynamic is so palpable you can almost feel it.
Audience Opinions
Audience 5.3/10
"A blunt gender-flip comedy with a strong cast that lands a few sharp moments but feels dated, messy, and not nearly funny or insightful enough."
Performances from Rosamund Pike and the ensemble are widely praised, and some viewers find the exaggerated role-reversal premise cathartic, clever, or even disturbingly accurate to lived experiences of sexism. latestnetflix.com's read is that at the same time, a large portion of the audience finds the humor weak, the message clumsy or shallow, and the film’s view of gender politics stuck in the past, with several calling it boring, lazy, or even regressive despite its intentions.
What viewers praise
- Compelling lead performance Rosamund Pike is frequently singled out as magnetic and commanding, giving the film far more edge and charisma than the script on its own.
- Entertaining supporting cast The surrounding players, including Fiona Shaw, Charles Dance, Richard E. Grant and Sacha Baron Cohen, are appreciated for bringing energy and personality even when the material is uneven.
- Relatable gender dynamics Several viewers, especially women, describe the flipped scenarios as uncomfortably familiar and emotionally realistic rather than exaggerated, which makes certain scenes hit hard.
- Occasional effective comedy Some consider it a fun, easy watch with enough jokes and situational absurdity to be worth a one-time viewing, even if it never becomes a favorite.
- Clear underlying message The central caricature of gender disparity and the visual details of a world built around women are appreciated as an accessible way of illustrating everyday double standards.
Common complaints
- Dated and shallow satire A recurring complaint is that the film’s take on sexism and role reversal feels like it belongs decades ago, with simplistic politics and little nuance.
- Inconsistent and weak humor Many describe long stretches as unfunny, awkward, or tedious, with gags that rely on obvious reversals rather than sharp writing.
- Clumsy, heavy-handed message The script is criticized for being on-the-nose and maladroit, sometimes reproducing the stereotypes it tries to critique and veering into mockery instead of insight.
- Wasted potential and talent Viewers frustrated by the movie call it lazy, formulaic, or a waste of an excellent cast and promising concept that never develops beyond a sketch-level idea.
- Messy tone and world-building Some are put off by the way masculinity and femininity are portrayed, finding the depiction of men in the matriarchy misguided or even misogynistic in reverse, and the overall tone uneven.
Recommended for
Gender role-reversal comedy fans Rosamund Pike devotees Sacha Baron Cohen completists Light social-satire seekers Casual streaming comedy watchers
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsThe builders catcalled Sacha. Then the critics did.
On a November 2024 London street, Sacha Baron Cohen's Damien Sachs got wolf-whistled by female extras in hard hats. The Sun caught the gag in the City, plus a "women at work" road sign. latestnetflix.com's take is that Rosamund Pike then played the same beat the other way, male builders leering while she walked in a grey tweed coat.
That is the entire movie, filmed as a street sketch. Netflix had already sold the premise in October. Deadline said Cohen and Pike would star for Thea Sharrock in an English remake of Eleonore Pourriat's 2018 French Netflix comedy I Am Not an Easy Man. Cohen plays an unrepentant womanizer who wakes up in a world run by women. Pike is the counterpart who makes that harder. Liza Chasin's 3dot shingle produced under her Netflix deal. Cohen's Four By Two Films is on the ticket too. 
British Comedy Guide broke the London shoot and flagged the weather around the announcement. This was Cohen's first live-action comedy lead since Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. It landed months after Rebel Wilson's memoir accused him of bullying and harassment on the 2016 film Grimsby. Wilson called him a "fourth-grade bully who teases the fat girl on the playground." His spokesperson told the BBC the claims were "demonstrably false" and contradicted by documents, footage, and eyewitnesses. That fight is not this movie. It is the noise the casting walked into, which is a lot of noise for a gender-flip rom-com.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeetI2DfbaE
Richard E. Grant, Emily Mortimer, Charles Dance, Fiona Shaw, Tom Davis, and Weruche Opia piled on in November. Filming ran through Shepperton from November 2024 into early 2025. The Ham and High clocked trucks on Nassington Road in Hampstead. Netflix dropped the official trailer in April. The film itself arrived May 22, 2026. TMDB lists it as movie 1368881. , , ,
Then the reviews arrived like a bucket of cold stout. Wikipedia's tally put Rotten Tomatoes at 26 percent from 46 critics and Metacritic at 38. The Guardian's Benjamin Lee called it "an excruciatingly unfunny high-concept thought experiment" and "a criminal waste of talent." He said Cohen was a "jarringly odd fit" next to Pike, and that the script's big idea of swapping motherfucker for fatherfucker was the joke repeating itself. ,
The French original started as Pourriat's 2010 short Oppressed Majority, which Netflix turned into a feature. Remaking your own French title in English with this cast looked like a victory lap. The lap ended with a one-star pan and a 93-minute runtime that still felt long to people who wanted Borat, not a boardroom lecture. ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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