Tom's Guide Verdict: 'Ladies First'
- Rating: 1.5/5 stars
- Verdict: "There is potential in a comedy that explores societal sexism through a humorous lens, but Netflix's 'Ladies First' completely fails to say anything meaningful. The end result is a largely joyless comedy that wastes the talents of Rosamund Pike and offers viewers little to enjoy beyond a singular, not particularly funny in the first place, gag."
- Where to watch: "Ladies First is on Netflix now
I don’t know if there’s currently a world record for the most times a movie has recycled the same joke. However, if such a record does in fact exist, the creatives behind Netflix’s new comedy, “Ladies First,” should expect a knock on the door from Guinness World Records. This movie has a singular gag — reversing gender roles in stereotypical situations — and repeats it so frequently that by a third of the way through, I was already itching for the credits.
Frankly, there’s barely enough comedic material in “Ladies First” to fill a "Saturday Night Live" sketch. Spinning its singular, not particularly clever, central concept across a whole feature film is an effort I suspect was always doomed to fail. And fail this movie does. It’s a Netflix comedy devoid of humorous moments, interesting narrative beats, or compelling characters.
Only adding to my frustration is that “Ladies First” flirts with an important message, but it’s like being told sage advice by somebody you don’t take seriously; you won’t listen. There is space for a clever comedy movie that lampoons and highlights the very real injustices and inequality that women face in the workplace (and society at large), but “Ladies First is not it.
What is ‘Ladies First’ about?
Damien Sachs (Sacha Baron Cohen) has it all. He’s wealthy, powerful, and being groomed for the CEO position at a top advertising agency. He dominates in a corporate setting controlled by men, and where derogatory comments are the common office language.
But when he hits his head, he awakens in a world where the dynamics have been flipped. Women run the world, and men have to work twice as hard to get half as far. In this role reversal, alternative to our everyday, it’s Alex Fox (Rosamund Pike), who’s the company “big cheese,” and isn’t afraid to make demeaning comments towards Damien and his fellow men.
Resolving to find a way back to his world, Damien is forced to confront his chauvinist ways and learns that life isn’t such a breeze when social norms keep your sex in second place.
Netflix’s ‘Ladies First’ misses the mark by miles
“Ladies First” feels weary and derivative, and it’s not even because it’s an English-language remake of the French movie “I Am Not an Easy Man.” It’s a sparse plot that follows a route that never throws any interesting roadblocks our character's way. Even the ending, which goes for feel-good but never amounts to anything more than “I feel nothing,” is so cookie-cutter that you’ll call it out beat-by-beat just from the trailer alone.
It’s your standard “A Christmas Carol” style tale that sees an unlikable man learn the error of his ways. The movie does have some fun with just how unlikeable it can make Damien — his assistant keeping a list of “things Damien said in case I get fired” is a rare good gag — but for such a high-concept comedy, it’s surprising how joyless and low energy it all plays out.
Rosamund Pike deserves better than the material granted to her; one scene has her asking Cohen’s Damien when he last masturbated. Irritated, outspoken men being accused of not having masturbated in a while is a substitute for crass comments about whether a woman is on her period in “Ladies First” alternative society (yikes!). While Pike sells the lines in a way that is earnestly commendable, her talents are wasted in such lazy attempts at humor.
At least Cohen can take comfort in having been in worse; the brutally bad “The Dictator” springs to mind. “Ladies First” never plunges those depths. Still, Cohen never feels quite right for the role of Damien. The rest of the cast are inconsequential, none more so than Richard E. Grant, who appears for merely a couple of scenes as a mystical pigeon man.
The sharpness of “Ladies First” satirical bite isn’t so much blunt as filed down to a nub. Its commentary on the very real sexism that persists in our society doesn’t extend beyond tacky gags like the Pope being female, men being the ones to take birth control pills, and Harry Potter being rechristened, Harriet. I guess in this upside-down world, one of the planet’s biggest entertainment franchises was created by a man, a point the movie doesn’t address.
There is great value and potential in clever comedy that uses humor to make a serious commentary on how women are still faced with inequality in the workplace and broader society. “Ladies First” is not capable of successfully mining this rich well. It doesn’t even really try. It takes the lazy, most predictable option. And that grates on you very, very fast.
It’s a movie that feels several decades out of date. It’s a tired and tawdry movie, harking back to cheap high-concept comedies that were hitting theaters when Y2K fears were still a topical topic of conversation. In 2026, it all feels a tad embarrassing to present such a simple (and arguably outdated) spin on female empowerment as a conversation starter. Not least of which in a year where Sam Raimi’s horror-thriller “Send Help” has examined a gender role reversal situation in an infinitely more interesting, entertaining and humorous way.
In subtler hands, “Ladies First” could have perhaps been a sharp and meaningful comedy that was both pleasantly funny and with important things to say about a very real problem, but what Netflix has served up is a movie less concerned with saying just about anything and more preoccupied with cramming in as many eye-rolling gender-flipped jokes as possible.
If I've convinced you to give "Ladies First" a wide berth, then here's a rundown of the Netflix movies that are worth watching this weekend. Or for a full overview, here's a complete guide to what's new on Netflix in May.
Watch "Ladies First" on Netflix now
