Grimsby (4½ Stars)

This is just what I need when I go to the cinema: a side-splitting comedy. Last year I didn't list any comedies in my top 10 films of the year. "Grimsby" has a good chance of making it into my list for 2016. I only deducted half a star because some of the humour was too crude for me, but I might increase my rating the next time I see it.

The film is about Nobby Butcher, a football fan from Grimsby in the north of England. I know the name of the town, but I couldn't have said where it is, apart from knowing that it's somewhere up north. It's not the sort of town that people talk about. Looking at a map I've seen that it isn't as far north as I thought. It's south of Hull, in Lincolnshire.

When Nobby was a child he was separated from his younger brother Sebastian. It's now 28 years later. Nobby is living in a council house with his 11 children, but he's never given up hope of finding his brother. He spots him on television in London and goes to meet him. Unknown to him, Sebastian is now a top agent for a secret division of MI6. At a conference of the World Health Organisation Sebastian is seen with a gun after the president has been shot. This leads to him being treated as a criminal, even by his superiors who think he's gone rogue. Only Nobby stands by his brother and assists him in finding the real killer.

The two brothers Nobby and Sebastian are as unalike as possible. They're played by Sacha Baron Cohen, known for his comedy roles, and Mark Strong, usually typecast as an action hero. The action scenes are over the top and breathtaking. The comedy is hilarious, even when it gets crude. For instance, we see the two brothers being pounded by an elephant's penis. Nasty.

The film is a guilty pleasure. I suspect that most serious film critics are too ashamed to admit that they like it. Not me. I love the film, and I recommend it strongly to all my readers.