Ali G is officially back. Sacha Baron Cohen has revived the satirical character that made him famous for "Ali G: Who Iz I?", a new mockumentary that marks the comedian's feature directorial debut — but the comeback has already ignited a fierce debate over whether the character's brand of comedy still has a place in 2026.
The film and its plot
Released by Amazon MGM Studios on October 23, "Ali G: Who Iz I?" picks up two decades after "Ali G Indahouse" (2002). After spending twenty years "chillin', tokin' and bonin'", Ali G learns that his long-term girlfriend Julie is eight months pregnant. Morgana Robinson plays Julie, taking over the role originated by Kellie Bright in the 2002 film. Faced with an extra mouth to feed, Ali G heads to America to reclaim his former glory — and quickly runs into adversaries who threaten both him and his unborn child.
To capture a polarized era, Baron Cohen also plays two opposing characters: Dr. Nira Cain-N'Degeocello, a professor described in the film as being so left-wing that "he makes AOC look MAGA", and Colonel Morad, a figure at the opposite end of the political spectrum. A separate trailer even has his Borat character roasting Ali G, turning the controversy into a punchline.
The film was shot in secret over the last year — Baron Cohen was reportedly spotted in character filming at an Oxfordshire zoo in July 2025 — and returns to the guerrilla-style format of real-world encounters that made "Borat" and "Brüno" global hits. It premiered on October 14 at the Hollywood Legion Theater in Los Angeles, but its theatrical release was trimmed first to a one-week run and then, two days before opening, to just three days at 125 theatres.
The backlash
For critics, Ali G is a relic whose cultural appropriation no longer reads as satire. A Variety review said the film has "a few scattered giggles, but it's dawdling and cumbersome, and far less 'relevant' than it thinks", arguing that Ali G was always "a maximally clueless white-bro poseur" funniest as a talk-show stooge. Early numbers back the skepticism: Rotten Tomatoes shows 50% of 20 critics' reviews positive with a 5.1/10 average, while Metacritic assigned it 38 out of 100 — "generally unfavorable".
Baron Cohen, 55, says the backlash is precisely the point. "I brought back Ali G because he is a problematic dinosaur," he told journalists. "I just love the idea of dropping him into today's world." In a Time magazine essay, he argued the character was created to expose prejudice, bias and ignorance rather than endorse them — and that prejudiced views which once surfaced gradually in conversations are now increasingly mainstream.
What comes next
With its theatrical window reduced to days, the film's real verdict will come when it lands on streaming, where Amazon MGM can measure whether nostalgia and controversy can carry a character many thought should have stayed in the 2000s. For now, the fight over Ali G — outdated dinosaur or needed mirror — has become the film's biggest story.
Watch: the official trailer for "Ali G: Who Iz I?"
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Life of Riley (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0