{"id":462257,"date":"2026-05-22T19:41:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/462257\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T19:41:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:41:12","slug":"netflixs-new-comedy-ladies-first-branded-painfully-dated-and-stupid-in-brutal-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/462257\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix’s new comedy Ladies First branded “painfully dated” and “stupid” in brutal reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

Netflix<\/a>‘s new comedy Ladies First has landed a number of brutal reviews, after arriving on the streaming service<\/a> earlier today. The movie imagines a world where stereotypical gender roles are reversed, resulting in a matriarchal society. <\/p>\n

Sacha Baron Cohen leads the cast as Damien Sachs, a sexist executive in line for a big promotion at a fancy advertising agency. But after being knocked unconscious, Damien wakes up to a parallel existence in which women are on top. <\/p>\n

As he navigates his new life, Damien is forced to experience the stereotypical tribulations of the opposite sex, including objectification, being overlooked professionally and various gruelling beauty regimes. <\/p>\n

\"rosamund<\/p>\n

Netflix<\/p>\n

Related: The best movies on Netflix to watch right now<\/a><\/p>\n

And what’s worse is his formerly junior colleague Alex (Rosamund Pike) is now his boss. Will Damien be able to handle a taste of his own medicine? <\/p>\n

Directed by Thea Sharrock, the movie also stars Richard E Grant, Emily Mortimer, Charles Dance, Fiona Shaw, Weruche Opia, and Kathryn Hunter. <\/p>\n

But despite the impressive cast, Ladies First has received an overwhelmingly negative response, with The Guardian<\/a> branding it “painfully dated”. <\/p>\n

“A misogynist is made to learn the error of his ways in this painfully dated and embarrassingly star-packed sexism comedy,” the one-star review reads, adding: “It’s also a criminal waste of talent, a murderers’ row of actors who hopefully got paid handsomely for the embarrassment of this whiffing up their IMDb pages.” <\/p>\n

\"sacha<\/p>\n

Netflix<\/p>\n

Related: The best comedies on Netflix to watch right now<\/a><\/p>\n

The Telegraph<\/a> awarded the movie two stars, and questioned: “What is Rosamund Pike doing in this stupid comedy?”<\/p>\n

“Sacha Baron Cohen is knocked unconscious early in Netflix comedy Ladies First, a film that only sometimes makes you wish the same for yourself,” they wrote.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, The Financial Times<\/a> also gave the comedy two stars, noting: “The dreary plot which eventually kicks in, and has Baron Cohen and Pike vying for a promotion, feels like something cut from one of the weaker Bridget Jones films \u2013 albeit shot in that odd Netflix house style that somehow looks simultaneously expensive and cheap.”<\/p>\n

Ladies First is now streaming on Netflix. <\/p>\n

Visit our Streaming Guide<\/a> now to see at a glance where you can view ALL your favourite shows and movies.<\/p>\n

The new edition of Living Legends, a collector’s edition exploring the royal family, is here! Buy The Royals in newsagents or online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Lettermark\"<\/p>\n

Divya is a freelance writer with experience in entertainment and lifestyle news. Described as a “telly addict” since childhood, Divya was able to translate her interests into a BJTC-accredited, Honours degree in Journalism and Media. After working in communications and marketing, Divya joined Digital Spy<\/a>\u00a0as a Freelance News Reporter. She has also written for various publications including\u00a0Metro<\/a>,\u00a0Asian World News\u00a0and\u00a0TwitCelebGossip;\u00a0as well as interviews, features and reviews on her own blog. Divya prides herself on her TV,\u00a0film<\/a>\u00a0and showbiz knowledge, always offering (not so) fun facts to her long-suffering friends and family. From\u00a0soaps<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0superheroes<\/a>, Divya is the go-to person for tailored recommendations\u00a0and up to date information.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Netflix‘s new comedy Ladies First has landed a number of brutal reviews, after arriving on the streaming service…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[131124,133535,1105,200049,1107,93,61,60,184510,1135,270,200048],"class_list":["post-462257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-collection-netflix","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-283068ef-2991-4375-84fe-1e8168459ed9","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-movies","tag-shorttitle-netflix-comedy-branded-painfully-dated-in-brutal-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}