Look, I wanted to like this movie.
The trailer dropped, I saw the Burger Queen logo with the topless dude, and I thought: Okay, this could be fun. A real gender-swapped comedy that actually commits to the bit. And for the first twenty minutes or so? I was in. The funeral scene where the priest says “a-women” made me exhale through my nose. The Saudi Arabia bit “they finally let men drive” that’s a good joke and a sharp joke.
But then they did it again. And again. And again.
Every single scene follows the exact same rhythm. Setup, reversal, punchline that you saw coming from a mile away. By the time the third character said something about the Mother, the Daughter, and the Holy Spirit,” I wasn’t laughing anymore. I was just bored. It’s like the writers had ten good ideas and stretched them across ninety minutes with nothing to fill the gaps except more of the same.
And here’s what really frustrates me: the premise is genuinely interesting. A world where prejudice against men is as baked-in as prejudice against women is in ours? That’s a mirror worth holding up. You could do something messy and uncomfortable and real with that.
Instead, they just swapped the clothes. Women act like the worst versions of dudes from an ’80s corporate drama. Men cry and fix their hair. Nobody asks the obvious question: Would a society run by women for thousands of years actually look anything like this? Probably not. But asking that would require imagination, and this movie doesn’t have the patience for imagination. It has a point to make, and it’s going to make that point until you’re dead.
The biggest problem, though and I can’t get past this is Damien.
Sacha Baron Cohen is trying. He’s always trying. But the movie wants me to feel bad for this guy. This guy who we just watched treat women like garbage for the entire opening sequence. He leaves a one-night stand in his hotel room without saying goodbye. He makes disgusting comments about a female coworker. He’s a pig. And then he bonks his head on a pole I’m serious, that’s how it happens and suddenly I’m supposed to sympathize with him because now women are being mean to him?
No Sorry Doesn’t work. You can’t spend thirty minutes making a character utterly repellent and then ask me to care about his feelings. That’s not how empathy works.
Rosamund Pike is good, because she’s always good. Fiona Shaw is wasted, Charles on the other hand Dance shows up for like four minutes, collects a check, and leaves. The whole thing just feels shallow. Like someone read the Wikipedia summary of I Am Not an Easy Man (the French original) and said “yeah, let’s do that, but American, and louder.”
And look I get it. The point is for men to understand how patriarchy hurts women by imagining themselves on the receiving end. That’s a valid goal but the only men who need that lesson aren’t going to watch this movie. They’re watching Rogan clips and complaining about Barbie, and the women who do watch this? They deserve something sharper than “what if the roles were reversed, but we changed nothing else.”
I don’t know, maybe I’m being too hard on it. My friend pointed out that the first act is genuinely funny if you don’t think about it too hard, and she’s not wrong. There’s a version of this review where I give it a 6/10 rating and say “it’s fine for a lazy Sunday.” But I can’t because it could have been great. And settling for fine feels like a waste of a really good idea.
So yeah, Skip it, and watch Barbie again if you want smart gender commentary with actual jokes. Or watch the French original if you’re curious. But Ladies First? It’s a one-joke movie that tells the same joke sixty times and wonders why you stopped laughing.
4/10 rating points for effort, and zero points for execution.
PARENTAL GUIDANCE – Ladies First (2024)
Rating: R
Violence & Intensity: Almost nothing. A guy hits his head on a pole (mild, no blood). No fights, no guns, no gore. The “intensity” is all social, humiliation, awkward flirting, that kind of thing. If your kid can handle a sitcom, they can handle the violence here.
Language: Frequent. You’ll hear “f” more than a few times. Also “s,” “b**,” “d*.” No racial slurs. The tone is sarcastic and combative, everyone’s got a snappy comeback. This isn’t a movie for a kid who repeats things they hear.
Sexual Content / Nudity: Full-frontal male nudity. Multiple times. Naked dudes in commercials, in showers, in locker rooms. It’s played for comedy, but it’s explicit. A male character gets his butt grabbed non-consensually by a female boss. Played as a “role reversal” joke. Some viewers will find it funny. Some will find it uncomfortable. Neither group is wrong. Frequent sexual jokes oral sex references, hookup culture, one-night stands. Nothing is shown explicitly, but nothing is left to the imagination either, If you or your teen is uncomfortable with nudity or sexual harassment as comedy, skip this. Seriously.
Drugs, Alcohol & Smoking: Alcohol is everywhere. Characters drink at work, at home, at bars. Rosamund Pike’s character is explicitly a “hard drinker.” No drugs, no smoking, no vaping.
Age Recommendations: 18+ Only.
Final advice for parents: If your sixteen-year-old wants to watch this, watch it with them. Not because it’s traumatizing, it’s not but because the movie makes some weird choices about consent and comedy that are worth talking through. Also, be prepared for the nudity. I’m not joking about the full-frontal stuff.