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Ali G addicts have been fretting over the British comedian's spiraling popularity. As word of his outrageous celebrity interviews spreads--the deer-in-the-headlights gaze of his victims as they wrestle with incredulity over his audacious stupidity is itself always worth the price of admission--his pool of potential victims naturally diminishes. Not to worry: Ali G as a character has enough flexibility to make the leap to full-length film. The transition is far from perfect: few moments in
Ali G Indahouse can match the unforced hilarity of
Da Ali G Show. The film's biggest drawback, in fact, is the absence of the real-life personalities we know from the interview format; it's the friction between them and comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen's imposter shtick that generates so many howlers.
Ali G Indahouse, in contrast, hangs on a silly plot. The setup of fictional characters interacting with Ali G simply can't have the same payoff.
Said plot is nothing more than a vehicle to subject the hip-hop poseur to a variety of ridiculous situations. He finds himself the unexpected champion in a parliamentary election and has to deal with the devious plotting of the Machiavellian Chancellor of the Exchequer (played by Charles Dance, who undergoes all manner of extreme humiliation). The result is a mix of Dumb and Dumber and Leslie Nielsen-esque pratfalls, with a hint of the Peter Sellers character in