# Ladies First has been panned. It’s still an essential watch | Anna Smith

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/ladies-first-has-been-panned-its-still-an-essential-watch-anna-smith/
- Published: 2026-07-13T12:35:30+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-14T23:14:01+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jul/13/ladies-first-sacha-baron-cohen-netflix-sexism
- Topics: Culture, Entertainment, Film, Geopolitics, Politics, TV

## Key points

- Review says flawed film still powerfully illustrates sexism
- Role reversal is used to expose everyday gender bias
- Audience response has been warmer than critics’ reviews

## Summary

Anna Smith argues that despite poor reviews, Netflix’s gender-swap comedy *Ladies First* remains worth watching because it exposes sexism by reversing traditional power dynamics. In the film, Sacha Baron Cohen’s chauvinistic character wakes up in a world where women hold social and professional power and men face the kind of objectification, patronising behaviour and double standards women often experience. Smith says the film matters less as a polished piece of cinema than as a mainstream, accessible way of helping audiences recognise everyday gender bias.

She acknowledges significant flaws, including uneven humour and a largely binary, heterosexual view of gender, and notes that critics have mostly been negative. However, she highlights a gap between critical and audience response, pointing to Rotten Tomatoes scores of 26% from critics and 64% from audiences. Smith also cites online reactions from male viewers who said the role reversal made them better understand women’s treatment, arguing that this reflects the film’s value as a prompt for empathy, especially in the post-#MeToo context.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.