Netflix’s new comedy movie, “Ladies First,” has gotten some pretty bad reviews. Could it be that disappointing? It has Rosamund Pike and Fiona Shaw, who are capable of portraying such incredibly unique, nuanced, forceful characters on screen.
In the first act, advertising executive Damien Sachs (Sacha Baron Cohen) hits his head and wakes up in a world where the script is flipped and women dominate.
Rosamund Pike’s Alex Fox gets bypassed a promotion in the agency, but after Damien regains consciousness, he walks back to his office to find Alex is his superior, and long term receptionist Felicity Chase (Shaw) is the CEO. The receptionist in this new reality is the old reality’s CEO, Fred Powell (Charles Dance).
It’s rather cute to see Mr. Dance, who is known for playing Lord Mountbatten and Tywin Lannister and men of a similar ilk, play a good-natured if somewhat timid character. He tells Damien early on, not to freak out or get emotional, because they have to be cautious, “you don’t want them [the women] to think we’re mad.”
I take a bit of issue with this, if it is referring to women being more emotional than men in our reality. I’ve dealt with or tried to soothe a number of men who have been gossipy, emphatic and all about the drama. I did hear a better word for getting overly emotional: “testerical.” Can we keep that one?
Some parts fulfilled fictional fantasy moments like that of Alex Fox getting caught up with the day’s news and you can hear phrases like, “Saudi Arabia giving driving privileges to men” or that the world has a Pope Beatrice.
I also got quite a kick out of hearing, “In the name of The Mother, The Daughter, and the Holy Ghost” at the end of a prayer.
The movie has treated this “switcheroo” simplistically and feels like it’s been made in another decade. Maybe the '80s? It seems closer to “Trading Places” or “Soul Man.”
“Ladies First” can miss the point when it has women behaving totally like men vs. possibly seeing how women would behave if they were in a position of power or dominance.
“Ladies First” also ends by having things too nicely tied up, almost like an implausible fairy tale.
The last movie I can remember that successfully made us both laugh and think about feminism, the patriarchy and gender roles was 2023’s “Barbie.”
That said, I do like the sound of a Pope Beatrice.