Ladies First Review
Director: Thea Sharrock
Date Created: 2026-05-22 21:43
1.5
Ladies First Review: Directed by Thea Sharrock, the Netflix film stars Sacha Baron Cohen as Damien Sachs and Rosamund Pike as Alex Fox, alongside a talented supporting cast including Richard E. Grant, Emily Mortimer, Charles Dance and Fiona Shaw. Written by Natalie Krinsky, Cinco Paul and Katie Silberman, the 90-minute film is inspired by the French movie I Am Not an Easy Man (Je Ne Suis Pas Un Homme Facile).
Ladies First Review
Netflix film Ladies First revolves around Damien Sachs, an accomplished advertising executive who treats women poorly but is oblivious to the extent of misogyny in himself. Damien consistently dominates conversations, turns women into objects, and sees women around him only as entertainment options for him. Damien is one of those characters that all women will begin to dislike upon hearing him speak. It does not matter whether he is putting down women in a meeting or cracking jokes that may appear witty; the film successfully conveys the message that Damien embodies every arrogant male benefiting from sexism.
In the wake of the accident, Damien is found in an alternate dimension where the rules of gender are reversed. This time, women dominate workplaces and their personal lives, while men become the oppressed lot, objectified, ignored, and underestimated all the time. It suddenly dawned on Damien that he himself would face what he used to treat others with indifference. For instance, his old colleague, Alex Fox, who had always been taken for granted before, is now a formidable executive who does not take him very seriously at all.
By far the most significant drawback of Netflix’s Ladies First is its reliance on the novelty factor, which ultimately fails to make it past the concept stage. Throughout the movie, the writers keep playing the same joke over and over: “What if sexism worked in reverse?” It takes us several scenes before we start finding the premise somewhat funny due to the sheer absurdity of the situation. In a world where males are evaluated by their appearance and are often silenced, even in professional settings such as board meetings. However, by the thirty-minute mark of the movie, everything gets stale fast.
However, at some point, the Ladies First movie on Netflix almost touches upon an important theme. In Damien, one can sense the growing realisation of how tiring it is always feeling threatened and ignored or degraded in terms of appearance. Unfortunately, those scenes pass too quickly for them to mean anything. The problem here is that the film was never even trying to address the problem of the matter seriously. Only in the final few minutes does the main character realise his own faults. What we don’t see from him is a process of emotional development and critical thinking about why misogyny arises at all.
Additionally, the problem with the Ladies First film is that even the protagonist of the movie doesn’t come off as believable. It seems that Sacha Baron Cohen does his best in terms of physical humour and embarrassing situations; however, he just seems wrong in this part. The point is that Damien should have been charismatic enough for the audience to tolerate him despite the fact that he is extremely rude; on the contrary, Cohen sometimes overacts to such an extent that his performance becomes really ridiculous.
However, Rosamund Pike undoubtedly delivers the most compelling acting performance, despite the film not taking full advantage of her abilities. Alex Fox is an accomplished, smart and sure woman, but she is presented only in terms of someone who teaches a lesson to Damien. She tries to make the best out of what she has to work with, and sometimes her facial expressions manage to convey more than the entire script. The problem is that too much attention is paid to the repeated humiliation of Damien.
The additional ensemble cast is made up of other capable actors who have little to nothing substantial to do. Both Richard E. Grant and Fiona Shaw appear to be making an attempt at absurdism, but there are many scenes that become embarrassing rather than entertaining. Much of the humour becomes very tired because of how frequently gender roles are used within the film’s vulgar content.
What makes the Ladies First movie even more of a disappointment is the fact that the underlying concept had a lot of promise to begin with. An example of a womaniser who was suddenly exposed to sexist attitudes would have provided an interesting commentary, which was also entertaining at the same time. The fact that the movie takes the simplest route possible is what makes it even less thought-provoking.
Netflix Ladies First Review: Summing Up
However, in the end, the 2026 movie Ladies First comes off as a wasted opportunity rather than an intelligent satire. Despite its claim that it brings out issues regarding sexism, the film does not make any noteworthy comments on it. With the exception of some good acting and one or two funny moments, the film ends up being dull and emotionally hollow. It is the type of film that confuses the presence of an interesting idea with profundity.
