Film / Ali G Indahouse

"All you motherfuckers, fuck-fuck-fuck-fuckers!"

Ali G's Cluster F-Bomb opening to his campaign

In this 2002 film Spin-Off of Da Ali G Show, Sacha Baron Cohen takes his Ali G character to the big screen, though this time the comedy is completely scripted.

Alistair "Ali G" Graham is a middle-class white kid from Staines, a sleepy little suburb, who lives with his grandmother. He spends his time pretending to be a gangsta with a couple other prep-school types from around the neighborhood. He has a running rivalry with the crosstown East Staines Massiv, though all the Staines gangstas are so straight-laced that they won't even exceed the speed limit while street racing. The closest thing Ali G has to a job is volunteering at the town leisure center, teaching kids how to "keep it real" by educating them on gangsta rap cliches. When he learns that the leisure center is about to be closed, he decides to go on a political campaign to keep it open. A nefarious Deputy Prime Minister persuades him to run for MP, and due to a fluke he wins. Ali G gets into a variety of Fish out of Water shenanigans as his horn-dog, pot-smoking personality clashes with the stuffy politicos. Ultimately Ali G must rally all the suburban gangstas to save Britain from the evil Deputy Prime Minister.

The first movie based on Da Ali G Show, Ali G Indahouse was later followed up by Borat and Brüno (2009), which gave the same big screen treatment to Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev and fashion designer Brüno. Interestingly, Indahouse is Baron Cohen's only film to ditch the show's Mockumentary format entirely, incorporating a full cast of fictional characters (and quite a few recognizable actors) to prop up Ali's antics.

In addition to Baron Cohen himself, the cast includes Martin Freeman as Ali's best friend Ricky C, Michael Gambon as the Prime Minister, Charles Dance as his scheming Deputy PM, and Rhona Mitra as the latter's Sexy Secretary.

---

This film provides examples of:

• The Alleged Car: After his car is vandalized (and the wheels stolen) by the East Staines Massiv, Ali has to borrow his Nan's car, which is barely faster than walking.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: Ali G lives with his nan, but no mention is ever made of where his parents are or why they don't appear.
• Arc Words: "Keep It Real". Ali says this line when he calls out the Parliament, and it eventually becomes his campaign slogan. Kate Hedges even owns a pair of panties with the phrase written on it.
• Artistic License – Cars: 2 such mistakes:
  • Ali's Renault 5, a car made between 1982 and 1990, has an "RE 58 ECT" numberplate. This is impossible, as numberplates with "58" as the 3rd and 4th character only apply to cars first registered in late 2008 and early 2009, which, in fact, is over 4 years after the film's premiere.
    • Justified, due to a gag with a part of the "8" obscured, so that the numberplate spells "RE5PECT"
  • The film shows car electrical systems in models like the Volvo 940 and Vauxhall Nova as able to cause an electric shock. Such devices actually use electricity under a voltage that poses absolutely no danger to a human.
• Artistic License – Law: The East and West Staines Massivs street race legally by maintaining their speed at the exact legal limit. However, street racing is illegal even if you're not speeding (not that you'd expect them to know that).
• Bestiality Is Depraved: Ali ends up winning the election because his opponent accidentally admits to performing oral sex on a horse during a televised debate.
• Big Damn Movie: The show is a Mockumentary series about Ali trying to scrape by as a talk show host, and conducting improvised interviews in amusing locales. In the movie, he gets elected to Parliament and has to fend off an evil plot to depose the Prime Minister of Britain.
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: In his fantasies, Ali G has a bulletproof cock the size of a small leg. The two Latina girls he picks up are amazed and say it'll take both of them to handle it. In reality, not so much.
• Big Red Button: Ali G tricks Parliament into thinking he'll push one that will destroy the world.
• Bilingual Bonus: The Spanish in the dream sequence.
• Bland-Name Product: One of the members of the East Staines Massiv is clearly supposed to be wearing a Detroit Lions jersey, but it actually says "Detroit Players".
• The Cameo: Sacha Baron Cohen's brief cameo as Borat Sagdiyev.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Ali tries to fight the Deputy Prime Minister one-on-one... it doesn't go well.
• Cutting Back to Reality: When Ali meets Kate Hedges, he immediately has an erotic Imagine Spot of her, set to the song "Freak Me". As soon as we cut away from the fantasy, Ali is revealed to be singing the lyrics out loud... badly.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: When Ali G meets Kate Hedges, he has an erotic Imagine Spot about her set to the song "Freak Me". When we cut away from the fantasy, he's still singing along with the lyrics.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: When Ali accuses his opponent of "sucking off a horse" during a televised debate. It turns out that the guy actually did just that prior to the debate, and that it was a minor scandal in his party. But instead of just telling Ali off for saying something so vulgar during a serious debate, he proceeds to try to talk his way out of it by claiming that he just accidentally fell on the horse's phallus, and that it was aroused because it was mating season. It doesn't go well.
• Diplomatic Impunity: Played for laughs at the end, when Ali G uses his new job as ambassador to Jamaica to smuggle weed back to the UK by slapping everything with diplomatic seals.
• Dream Intro: The opening of the film is an over-the-top dream Ali G is having of how much of a supposed badass gangster he is.
• The Dog Bites Back: When Ali G has to drive a golf cart because his car is vandalized, the old guy he cut off earlier in the film steals his parking space and flips him off - with a wooden hand.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The first of Sacha Baron Cohen's films based on his three TV show characters and the only one that wasn't a mockumentary, following a conventional scripted plotline.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Ali G's introduction to Kate Hedges is him giving her a stunned once-over before switching to an Imagine Spot.
• Embarrassing Middle Name: When the election official reads his full name, Ali pretends not to know who "Alistair Leslie Graham" is.
• Epic Fail: Some highlights from the start of Ali's campaign:
  • Ali starts off a speech to a group of feminists, whom he mistakes for lesbians, with "ALL DA BITCHES IN DA HOUSE SAY 'YO!'" He then tells them that he owns many of their videos and promises to lower taxes on strap-ons.
  • His Cluster F-Bomb campaign broadcast over loudspeaker. It starts out with, "All you motherfuckers, fuck-fuck-fuck-fuckers!'', and just gets more obscene from there.
  • At a construction site, someone asks him to "lay down a brick". He drops trou and does exactly that.
• Erotic Eating: At the gala Ali eats a very yonic-looking canape in front of Kate, blatantly stimulating the blueberry at the top with his finger and then his tongue.
• Evil Chancellor: The Prime Minister is actually a laid-back kind of guy who's amenable to Ali's ridiculous ideas on how to make politics "sexy" again, but the villainous Deputy Prime Minister who volunteered Ali in the first place is involved in a real estate corruption scheme.
• Fish out of Water: Ali G in Parliament? Oh, my medication!
• Foreign Curse Word: Rico uses some pretty colorful Spanish: "Hijo su chingada madre." There's funny stuff in there too.
• Funny Background Event: When Ali is desperately trying to get an erection during his Humiliation Conga to impress a fit girl, the people on the bus behind her can be seen pointing and laughing at him.
• Gag Penis: In the Dream Intro, the bullet outline from the enemy gangsters' guns includes an outline of Ali's penis, which appears to be at least a foot long. Of course, this is all in his head.
• Gossip Evolution: "Switch on the engine, pass it on" becomes "Bitch on a pension, suck my dong!"
• Highly-Conspicuous Uniform: Not a uniform per se, but all the gangstas show up in brightly-colored camo clothing, making it completely useless for sneaking in.
• Humiliation Conga:
  • When Ali chains himself to a fence for a hunger strike protesting the demolition of the leisure center, the East Staines Massiv de-pantses him while he's still chained to the fence, he gets slapped or made fun of by several women for exhibitionism, and ends up with an old blind guy accidentally giving him a handjob while trying to polish said fence.
  • After his defeat, the evil deputy Prime Minister is forced to dress in a hooker outfit and dance for Ali G.
• Hypocritical Humor: "She's not a prostitute! She's my ho!"
• Idiot Hero: Well for as much as Ali G can be called a hero.
• Improbable Weapon User: During the final showdown with the Deputy Prime Minister Ali uses his gold medallion as a makeshift bolas.
• In-Universe Factoid Failure: Ali somehow manages to get religious conflicts in Northern Ireland mixed up with religious conflicts in Northern India, thinking that the fighting in Ireland is between "Hindus and Islams".
• I Was Having Such a Nice Dream: Ali G has a dream that ends with a beautiful woman performing oral sex on him. He wakes up to discover his dog licking him in an intimate place.
• Joke and Receive: Ali accuses his debate opponent of "sucking off a horse" as a last-ditch effort, but it turns out his opponent did exactly that.
• Laser Hallway: Ali, Ricky, and Dave have to cross a room criss-crossed with lasers. Naturally they can't see the beams, so "Dave, we has to use your special powers." Dave lights up his bong, takes a good strong hit, and blows the smoke out into the room. Once the lasers are visible, they can be avoided — and the best way to do that of course is to dance the Robot the whole way.
• Letters 2 Numbers: Ali sends a text spelling "batteries" as "b82rez" and "together" as "2g4", but the person doesn't understand what he's trying to say and has to call him.
• Megaphone Gag: When he's running for parliament, Ali rigs up a loudspeaker on his car and drives around campaigning. His message starts out with, "All you motherfuckers, fuck-fuck-fuck-fuckers!", and just gets more obscene from there. Later on, when he and Julie get up to some Auto Erotica in his car, they accidentally turn on the loudspeaker, giving everyone a show.
• Misspelling Out Loud: Ali G hears the M.P.s arguing and stands up to tell them they should "restecp" each other more.
  Ali G: R.E.S.T.E.C.P! Do ya even know wha it spellz?
  Cabinet M.P.: Restecp?
• Mistaken for Gay: After a fight, Ali and Julie have very loud make-up sex in the PM's bedroom while he and the president of Chad are having a private conversation nearby. The gala guests hear and assume the worst when the two leaders come back and give a Double Entendre-laden recap of their meeting afterwards.
• The Movie: Ali G gained popularity as a television character before the film.
• Must Not Die a Virgin: When locked in a room that is running out of oxygen, Ricky and Dave decide to give sodomy a go before they die. Ali rescues them in the middle of the act.
• Neighborhood-Friendly Gangsters: Played for Laughs. Both the East and West Staines Massivs claim to be gangsters, but the worst crime they commit is unauthorized graffiti. Ali even works at a recreation center to teach kids how to "keep it real".
• No-Sell: David effortlessly shrugs off every one of Ali's attempts to hit, distract, or "nipple cripple" him when they fight in the climax.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: A variant of this plays with the background choir chanting "ALI (G!)...ALI (G!)..." to epic-sounding music whenever Ali does anything remotely cool, like walking through Parliament to challenge another representative or riding a tricycle to stop Staines from being leveled.
• Passing Judgment: Ali is chained to a railing when his pants get pulled down. After trying to get an erection when a girl he likes passes (so as not to appear small), the next group along is a group of nuns.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: The Staines gangsters, natch.
• Poke the Poodle: The Staines gangstas think they're pretty hardcore for flipping off cops when they can't be seen and street racing while obeying all traffic laws.
• Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Ali G and all the other gangstas in the film are middle-class suburban kids who model themselves after what they hear in gangsta rap. Not all of them are actually white, however.
• Prison Rape: After having anal sex with each other and loving it, Ricky and Dave are thrilled to hear that "they'll spend the next 20 years being bummed in the showers" if they get arrested.
• Protest by Obstruction: Ali G goes on a hunger strike and chains himself to the railings outside No. 10 Downing Street when he learns his local council leisure centre is going to be demolished. The two reporters who were sent to cover this pathetic display manage to make him fail simply by offering him some Kentucky fried chicken.
• Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: Ali pranks the Deputy PM (and the Prime Minister forces him to continue reading) by writing insults on his report that the Deputy has to read out.
  David Carlton: Furthermore, I am a bellend. I like to take it up the batty. Yes, I do. It feel really nice and is me favourite. I used to be a girl and wear knicks. Honest!
• Rivals Team Up: To retrieve the secret plans from the Deputy PM's house, Ali gets on a ham radio and calls on all the "gangstas", including the East Staines Massiv, to come help.
• Rule-Abiding Rebel: Played for Laughs with the East and West Staines Massivs, who affect being engaged in a gang rivalry, but won't break any laws. One scene has them drag-racing down a suburban street while maintaining their speed at the exact legal limit.
• Scout-Out: Ali teaches a scout-esque group of kids how to "Keep it real" at the local leisure centre; it's the threat by the council to demolish this building that launches Ali into the murky world of politics.
• Sexy Secretary: Kate Hedges, the Deputy Prime Minister's private secretary played by Rhona Mitra. Ali G is rather blatant about drooling over her. Her hotness actually becomes a plot point later when they try to keep Ali G quiet about their real estate conspiracy by sending Kate to seduce him. As much as Ali wants to, he sticks to his principles.
• Signature Item Clue: The Deputy PM is able to pin the drugging of the world leaders on Ali (which he was actually responsible for) because he left the empty weed bag with "ALI'S STASH. DO NOT NICK." in the trash at the conference.
• Small Name, Big Ego: For all his tough-talk and posturing Ali is little more than a gangsta wannabe who has probably never been in a real fight. The Deputy Prime Minister is a sociopathic Evil Genius with no qualms about resorting to violence. A physical confrontation goes about how you would expect.
• Springtime for Hitler: The Deputy Prime Minister plans to use Ali G as part of this sort of scheme repeatedly in order to cause a crisis of confidence and allow him to become Prime Minister: first he plans for choosing Ali G as their candidate to lose them a safe seat in a by-election, then when that fails he plots for Ali's incompetence to bring down the Prime Minister directly.
• Stealing the Handicapped Spot: At the beginning of the film, Ali steals a handicapped spot at the leisure center from an old man, faking a limp. Later, after his car's wheels are stolen, Ali has to take his Nan's dinky little motorized scooter, which can't even drive the speed limit, and the old man swoops in and grabs the space before he can, Flipping the Bird to Ali with his prosthetic hand.
• The Stoner: Pretty much all Ali and his friends do is get high.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: At a tense UN meeting, Ali dumps a bag of weed into the tea that is then served to all the world leaders. IT definitely helps them loosen up.
• Trailer Spoof: One teaser pretended to be for the biopic Ali.
• Trust-Building Blunder: One of Ali G-s students does the fall test, hoping he is caught. He's not.
• Two Words: I Can't Count: A character tells people their two words: "Keep It Real!". This is of course immediately pointed out that that's three words, and it's followed by a debate on whether "it" counts as a word because of how short it is.
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Julie only calls Ali "Alistair" when he pisses her off.

---