When one considers Mark Strong’s career in front of the camera – from RocknRolla and Sherlock Holmes to Kick-Ass and Zero Dark Thirty – it becomes readily apparent that the actor has largely played things straight throughout the years, portraying gruff and often gun-toting characters regardless of genre. Sacha Baron Cohen, meanwhile, revels in films that place him in the role of the oafish buffoon, most notably through satirical mockumentaries in the vein of Borat and Bruno.
Held up alongside each other and you have quite the stark contrast between Strong and Cohan. But opposites attract, as the saying goes, and one film playing on the pair’s conflicting acting stereotypes is Sony’s The Brothers Grimsby.
Slated for release in mid-March, today brings forth the first clip for the atypical buddy cop comedy, while a featurette explores the action sequences included in Louis Leterrie’s actioner and how it riffs on some of the hackneyed tropes of the spy genre. How much comedy Leterrie can mine from the mismatched dynamic of Strong and Cohan – the former is a deadly spy, the latter a vapid hooligan – remains to be seen, though the fact that the cast is rounded out by Rebel Wilson, Isla Fisher, Gabourey Sidibe, and Penelope Cruz lends us a sliver of hope – even if it is just a sliver.
The Brothers Grimsby will star Sasha Baron Cohen as the unlikeliest of unlikely heroes when Sony’s spy comedy opens on March 11. In the meantime, here are the clips in question.
Nobby (Sacha Baron Cohen) has everything a man from Grimsby could want, including 11 children and the most gorgeous girlfriend in the northeast of England (Rebel Wilson). There’s only one thing missing: his little brother, Sebastian (Mark Strong), who Nobby has spent 28 years searching for after they were separated as kids. Nobby sets off to reunite with Sebastian, unaware that not only is his brother MI6’s deadliest assassin, but he’s just uncovered plans for an imminent global terrorist attack. On the run and wrongfully accused, Sebastian realizes that if he is going to save the world, he will need the help of its biggest idiot.