Three months after Ali G, one of the buffoonish alter egos of the actor Sacha Baron Cohen, resurfaced at Wimbledon, he is returning to the silver screen.
Baron Cohen’s new movie, “Ali G: Who Iz I?,” opened on Friday. In the mockumentary, which Baron Cohen both stars in and directed, Ali G, a washed-up wannabe gangster rapper, attempts a comeback amid financial stresses stemming in part from his girlfriend’s pregnancy.
“Ali G: Who Iz I?” will be in theaters for only one weekend, with a handful of New York theaters offering just one showtime daily. The movie is set to stream on Amazon Prime Video some time shortly thereafter.
Here is what you need to know about Baron Cohen’s divisive character and the new film.
Who is Ali G?
Alistair Leslie Graham, a.k.a. Ali G, is a satirical character created and performed by Baron Cohen, who is perhaps best known for his work as the titular (and fictional) Kazakh reporter in “Borat” (2006) and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” (2020).
Ali G is a white, middle-class rap hopeful and serial cultural appropriator from Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England. He takes elements from American hip-hop and Jamaican culture, and he usually sports oversize streetwear, a sculpted goatee and tinted glasses.
Baron Cohen debuted his Ali G persona in 1998, on the British late-night comedy program “The 11 O’Clock Show,” and later reprised the role for the sketch comedy series “Da Ali G Show” (2000-04), the film “Ali G Indahouse” (2002) and other programs.
How have people reacted to the character?
Like other characters created by Baron Cohen, Ali G has been criticized as a perpetuation of the very biases that the character purports to mock.
Curtis Walker, a British comedian, once compared Ali G to Al Jolson, a blackface “Mammy” singer.
Ali G is “dishing out all the clichés and stereotypical language,” Walker said. “I find it quite degrading and sad that this is what catches people’s attention.”
He went on: “I don’t like the concept of a white guy playing a Black guy anyway, and when he is playing a stupid stereotype, it is even worse.”
Others, including someone who was once duped by Ali G, have defended the character as well-crafted satire. (The list of the duped is long and includes many who were not happy to be tricked.)
Jacob Rees-Mogg, a British politician who was interviewed by Ali G on “The 11 O’Clock Show,” recently said the character was “poking fun at society as it is, as the best comedy often does.”
Why is Baron Cohen reviving Ali G now?
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Baron Cohen said he felt compelled to bring back Ali G as he grew concerned about rising political extremism.
“I’m terrified of where our society is headed,” he said, “and the way I can comment on that is through my comedy.”
In an essay in Time magazine, he wrote that “the fact that Ali G is outdated and problematic is the very reason I resurrected him,” adding, “The world he’s returned to is, in many ways, worse than the one he left 20 years ago.”
He continued: “All the prejudices my characters are designed to expose haven’t just lingered — they’ve metastasized. They’re fueled by the greatest propaganda machine in history — social media — and now by its monstrous child, A.I.”
How do people feel about the movie’s release?
Some people have expressed confusion about the film’s one-weekend release, with more than one person saying that screenings would not be offered where they lived. One report suggested that Amazon MGM Studios had shrunk the film’s rollout, noting the controversy around it.
Amazon MGM Studios declined to comment on the small release window.
After the movie’s trailer debuted in August, detractors called upon theaters to refuse to screen the film. A statement shared on NewsCord, a news comparison platform that organized a boycott campaign, cited disapproval of the Ali G “caricature” by Black British comedians and Kazakh and Arab organizations.
For his part, Baron Cohen suggested that the film might stick with viewers as they approach Election Day on Nov. 3.
“With the U.S. midterm elections just weeks away, perhaps it encourages citizens to mobilize against these dangerous falsehoods — at the ballot box and beyond,” he said of the film.
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