Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Ali G: Who Iz I?” arrives on Prime Video on Wednesday, only days after a brief theatrical run. Amazon MGM Studios announced the date Monday. The film opened in cinemas in the United Kingdom on October 23, five days before it reaches streaming. In the United States it played a handful of theaters over one weekend. It marks Cohen’s directorial debut and follows his character’s return after about 20 years.
The compressed schedule reflects a change of plan. Amazon originally intended a wide theatrical release but cut its theatrical deal after online backlash, including a campaign to keep the movie out of European theaters, and shifted its emphasis to streaming. The studio’s announcement said nothing about that dispute and included no quotes from Cohen or an Amazon executive. Cohen’s earlier Amazon release, the second “Borat” film, skipped theaters entirely.
Critics have been cooler than they were on that film. The movie holds a 48 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. One reviewer argued Cohen struggles with being too recognizable to fool unsuspecting subjects the way he once did. Another critic saw the same limitation but still enjoyed the film. “I did laugh consistently during the movie,” wrote JoBlo’s reviewer, who found it feels more scripted than the “Borat” pictures.
The premise follows a familiar template. Ali G learns after twenty years that his girlfriend, Julie, is eight months pregnant, and he travels to America to reclaim his former glory. Morgana Robinson co-stars. Cohen wrote the screenplay with collaborators including Anthony Hines and Peter Baynham. The film premiered October 14 at the Hollywood Legion Theater in Los Angeles.
Cohen promoted the release in character. In a post on the Ali G account, he noted the film runs 89 minutes and could be watched 161 times a day for free. The character has a long history. Cohen created Ali G for British television before a 2002 feature, “Ali G Indahouse,” and later spun off Borat and Brüno into their own films. This outing is the fifth movie from that universe. Fans who skipped the thin theatrical run can now judge for themselves. Whether the streaming audience is kinder than the critics remains open.
