After I saw Sacha Baron Cohen‘s latest mind-bending comedy Ali G: Who Iz I?, I immediately thought that this movie is proof there should be a brand new Oscar category created, for Best Clearances. The fact that there is someone out there who could actually get all the real unsuspecting morons who participated in this movie to sign off on it afterwards is simply astonishing considering what they are asked to do in it. So before going into detail on all of that, hats off to, at least what I can tell by reading the end credits, Ashley Kravitz of Clearances by Ashley Inc.
And while we are on it, let’s acknowledge casting director Sarah Crowe and her team for finding these extremist idiots who make up the most incredulous parts of the movie, as well as Russell Smith Claims Counsel and the nine lawyers representing the movie. “No real person or entity depicted or appearing in the film has sponsored or otherwise endorsed its content” is the disclaimer meant to quash lawsuits.
At the end of the film there is a separation shown on screen between the characters who were “in on it” and those who were “not in on it,” meaning the real people unaware (incredibly) of who Ali G is or that they are dealing with master prankster Baron Cohen, who has won Golden Globes and Oscar nominations for pulling off the impossible, pretty much guaranteed to stir controversy, offend lots of people, but most importantly make us laugh while pointing to the truly dangerous environment of extremism, hate, misinformation, and other terrible cancers currently on our society.
The number of those “not in on it” far outweighs the handful, including Baron Cohen in three different guises, who are “in on it.” Some may indeed find this all abhorrent, but I found it necessary, and though not everything lands here, enough of it is jaw-dropping enough to make us wonder how he pulled this all off without getting murdered along the way.
After 24 years Ali G is back, a culturally appropriating white Londoner who believes he is Black with Jamaican ancestry and goes around dressed like that to prove it. Created for the 1998 11 O’Clock Show, then later for HBO’s Da Ali G Show and even a movie in 2002’s Ali G Indahouse, Baron Cohen in these dark times obviously believes the moment is right to bring him back in fine satirical form as the world has only sunk further into the abyss since his last appearance. In the meantime there has been Bruno and especially Borat, but Ali G (aka Alistair Leslie Graham) is the LOL OG.
The film begins with a phrase on screen: “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” That is exactly what happens in the “script” dreamed up by Baron Cohen and his gaggle of five writers, in which Ali G is stoked over the prospect HBO wants to offer him a third season of his show, not realizing the “offer” expired 22 years ago. Yes, he’s an idiot. But it doesn’t stop him from putting together a crew (“not in on it”), enlisting talent agent Gar Lester (“not in on it”) and throwing a $12,000 dinner to celebrate. He also celebrates with his very pregnant girlfriend Julie (a terrific and game Morgan Robinson) who, dreaming of the new cash infusion, enlists a clueless high-end Beverly Hills realtor (“not in on it”) to show them a $30 million, 19,000-square-foot home to buy. This is one of the best bits in the movie and you have to hand it to this realtor who must have really wanted this sale.
However there is no money, and no show. Ali G’s calls to the office of HBO’s Casey Bloys go unreturned. But what to do? The baby is on the way. His attempts at menial jobs, like one on a farm, hilariously go nowhere. Hope springs eternal though when Ali G misreads a message from an Elvis impersonator named Rocky (Clive Russell) who needs to talk to him ASAP. He somehow believes this message confirms he is actually the son of rap superstar A$AP Rocky (not in the movie but in the end credits and “in on it” with Rhianna).
The first half of the film contain a series of encounters of people “not in on it” including a DEI coach, a synergistic doctor, a liquor store employee trying to warn him about taking too much of a Viagra-like substance (we get visible results right there), and on and on. Baron Cohen also appears as an extreme progressive named Nira Cain N’Degeocello, who wears Cosby-type sweaters and lectures a room full of Black activists at an Oakland Community Center, warning them that cultural appropriator Ali G is on the loose and must be stopped. He becomes the main nemesis out to stop Ali G. He tells this group (all “not in on it”) about the book he has written, “I Have A Better Dream,” and that RAP actually means “Radical African Poetry” before just about all of them, save one, walk out in droves. Another choice scene has N’Degeocello speaking to a group of parents (all of them “not in on it”) gathered for an elementary school open house and informing them of the school’s program to institute a “compulsory gender reversal year trial” for all their children. “You mean I have to watch my son dress like a girl for a year?” screams one angry father. N’Degeocello goes further, saying if it “sticks” they can make it permanent: Little Timmy can have Kim Kardashian’s buttocks, and little Charlotte can have Orlando Bloom’s genitals.
The film drifts from bit to bit, some straining for laughs but enough of it working to make this feel like vintage Baron Cohen daredevil comedy at the expense of the clueless. The real stunners though are in the second half with yet another Baron Cohen character introduced, ex-Mossad anti-terrorist expert Erran Morrad, who assembles a group of Trump-loving MAGA-ites for the ultimate mission: They must stop this Mexican criminal known as Alejandro Gonzales (actually Ali G) who has fathered 140,000 children in order to make sure they are born on American soil, thus flooding the country with immigrants. Newt Gingrich and Republican congressmen Andy Harris and Ralph Norman (“not in on it”) incredibly believe all this and tape PSAs warning of his existence and plans. Equipping each of the group (none of them “in on it”) with a prosthetic butt that fires bullets triggered by a prosthetic penis, Morrad prepares them to capture Julia’s about-to-be-born baby, deliver it to a helicopter’s dangling rope chair and transport it immediately across the border. This entire sequence simply has to be seen to be believed but it proves the ultimate point Baron Cohen is trying to make. Beware of extremism — on both sides (the left is not unskewered). These are dangerous times and there are a lot of nuts out there, mostly watching Fox News.
Another sequence involving the active participation of disgraced congressman George Santos (“not in on it”) is so tasteless, so vile, I won’t describe it here. But it is chilling to know that a whole TV production team (also “not in on it”) and others including Santos in a Holocaust-themed sketch on the ultra tacky The Free Speech Show (a hosting gig Ali G gets) would actually participate in such a thing. It is just head-spinning stuff, and Baron Cohen takes it right to the edge — and over — before having Ali G walk off in horror.
Ali G: Who Iz I? actually, through all the antics of its star, all the over-the-top gags and elaborate pranks, all the head-scratching wonderment that most of the people “not in on it” live on the same planet and signed waivers to let us watch their idiocy, well, it makes me wonder who iz we, and how long will it take to climb out of this frightening rabbit hole we find ourselves in now in the age of Trump. That these people are real is kinda depressing.
Oh, and yes I did laugh a lot. Baron Cohen, after making his own directorial debut with this one, says this is the absolute last time he is doing this kind of thing. It’s over. It’s hard to pull off and too dangerous. I am not sure I believe him. Could he be pranking all of us again? This kind of comedy is actually a public service, so I hope he doesn’t give it up just when it is needed most to savagely show how mad mad mad mad this world has become.
Ali G: Who Iz I? opens Friday for one weekend only, and beyond that will surface on Amazon’s Prime Video at a still unannounced date.
Producers are Baron Cohen and Petr Jakl. A credit at the end of the film intriguingly thanks Gar Lester “for not suing.”
Title: Ali G: Who Iz I?
Distributor: Amazon MGM Studios
Release Date: October 23, 2026
Director: Sacha Baron Cohen
Screenwriters: Sacha Baron Cohen & Anthony Hines & Peter Baynham & Dan Swimer & Dan Mazer & Keisha Zollar
Cast: Sasha Baron Cohen, Marion Robinson, Alphja Miknas, Clive Russell
Rating: R
Running time: 1 hr 29 mins