Image Credit: Netflix
From director Thea Sharrock (wicked little letters, the only ivan), ladies First This is a new gender-swap satirical comedy starring an expert on the subject Borat & bruno Star Sacha Baron Cohen. This film is rare in that it is a remake of an early Netflix Original film, the French comedy Je ne suis pas un homme facile (I’m not an easy man), released by the streamer in 2018.
Co-written by Natalie Krinsky (broken heart gallery), Katie Silberman (book smart), & Schmigadoon! Producer Cinco Paul’s story centers on male chauvinist and high-powered advertising executive Damian Sachs (Baron Cohen), who, after being forced to stand up to a newly promoted female creative director for her reprehensible and sexist practices, finds himself thrust into a matriarchal society, where he must face new challenges under a formidable female version of himself in the form of the aforementioned forced creative director Alex Fox (Oscar-nominee Rosamund Pike).
To return to his former existence, Damien must overcome the obstacles largely associated with women in the patriarchal society structure and force his way to the top with agency.
If this sounds familiar and you haven’t seen the French film it’s based on, don’t worry – you didn’t get hit in the head like Damien Sachs – you’ve just been fed a version of the Dickens/Scrooge “3 Ghosts” morality tale many times over the years or you’ve watched a variety of men contemplate the truth of being a woman in some amusing gender flip designs.
ladies First. (L-R) Sacha Baron Cohen as Damian Sachs and Rosamund Pike as Alex Fox in Ladies First. Ten million. Rob Youngson/Netflix © 2026.
The first thing that comes to mind as an elderly millennial is this 2000 Nancy Meyers rom-com. what women want Mel Gibson starred in his prime acting days. In that film, Gibson’s character is – stop me if you’ve heard this – an egotistical, anarchic advertising executive (!) who after an accident (!!) magically gains the ability to hear what women are thinking. Not surprisingly, the film was critically derided for being shallow, obvious, and relying on its lead actor’s charm to make its paper-thin premise palatable.
Jump forward a quarter century later and here we are with similar snobbery, trying to show the horrible people in bigoted white-collar industries that if they listened, empathized, and embraced the thoughts and ideas of others, the world would be better for it; A worthy lesson in any part of any decade. You won’t hear from me that we have somehow solved sexism or matriarchal power dynamics in the workplace in this part of the 21st century. However, maybe the stereotypical archetypes, less nuanced approach, and familiar story tropes are becoming old and well worn out in 2026.
For their efforts, the creators of ladies First has produced a watchable film with a voice message (recycled or not) and an impressive collection of some of my favorite British character actors (Mortimer, Shaw, and Richard E. Grant, in particular). The humor, though more amusing than laugh out loud funny, is mostly based on the sheer scale of gender transition visions, such as frilly underwear with testicle holders, eating at Burger Queen, or reading the latest. Harriet Potter Novel. But the best comedy is provided by Baron Cohen’s performance, which includes a piano rendition of Ginuwine’s “Pony” at a company function or an improvised cowboy impression “swinging all 3 of his guns” in a sexual role-playing scene.
If you’re looking for modernity in messaging, the best I can offer is a scene in which Pike’s Alex Fox character explains to a male CEO in a matriarchal world that people believe he got the job because his company was dogged by sexual harassment claims and they need to change the narrative. She further explains that if he turns his company around, people will think it is his luck and if he fails, people will assume he is unqualified, but most people will assume he never got a chance because he is “too emotional and aggressive” for the position. This theme is at its sharpest and most poignant, citing all the double standards applied to women in high-ranking positions in business and turning them down to their male counterparts.
Sadly, the moments that rise above previous iterations of a similarly designed narrative are too few and far between to justify another riff on Dickens, Myers, and anyone else trying to put entitled white-collar monsters in their place. ladies First Baron is excited by Cohen and his dark cast, but does not always justify his existence. If you’re looking for a smile and a sense of righteousness in an often cruel matriarchal world, this should do the trick. But for the cynics and skeptics who feel like they’ve experienced it before, you shouldn’t feel too bad if you skip this one.
ladies First. (L-R) Sacha Baron Cohen as Damian Sachs and Rosamund Pike as Alex Fox in Ladies First. Ten million. Rob Youngson/Netflix © 2026.
Watch ladies First If you liked:
- I’m not an easy man (2018)
- what women want (2000)
- short wife, barbie
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Sacha Baron Cohen as Damien Sachs
While I have a greater preference for Cohen’s projects and characters during his decades in Hollywood, his early Ali ji In the expanded universe, he’s still managed to show why he was so popular for comedic talent in the first place.
For ladies FirstBaron Cohen mostly stands out for his physicality and his fearless playfulness at times when he’s asked to dial it up beyond British satire. As mentioned earlier, his vocal performance of “Pony” and his cowboy sexual role gave the film a notable spark when it mostly stuck to a stagnant dry wit register for the majority.
More entertaining than laugh-out-loud funny, more nonsensical than innovative, ladies First Keeps the legacy of texts like Scrooge alive with an adequate but not entirely punchy satirical slant on toxic masculinity in the workplace and beyond. Baron Cohen’s tremendous talent brings such clichéd material to life that it becomes worth watching multiple times.
