Releasing a gender-flipped workplace comedy is certainly a choice at the best of times, but particularly given the climate today, Netflix’s Ladies First movie is deserving of a review. Starring industry giants like Rosamund Pike, Fiona Shaw, Sascha Baran Cohen, and Charles Dance, the movie flips not just workplace dynamics, but societal gender dynamics at large, showing us what a world would be like if the roles were entirely reversed. Not just improved, but flipped as things stand today. Getting serious about serious conversations tends to push people away, and thus the movie attempts to take a comedic route to unraveling topics that typically deserve a heavier approach.
Based on the 2018 French film, I Am Not an Easy Man, Thea Sharrock’s Ladies First breaks down some very serious issues into more consumable punchlines. Toying with the changing nature of sexual harassment in the workplace, DEI politics, and the half-hearted promotions that ensue, what careerwomen encounter despite committing years to the job, and the overall idea of how we determine who succeeds at work, the movie attempts to drive home a point that is already there and settled into bed, its repetitive and overly exaggerated nature hurting rather than proving its point. Still, there are things to appreciate about the movie as well, and as women of the workplace, we’re not sitting this conversation out.
It’s hard to pen a review of the Ladies First movie when the gender-flipped workplace comedy only repeats what we already know about sexism at work. (Image: Ladies First Netflix trailer, YouTube)
Ladies First Review: A Gender-Flipped Workplace Comedy That Is Both Misguided and Earnest
The premise of Ladies First is simple and familiar. It features Sacha Baron Cohen as Damien, a male chauvinist at the height of his career success. Damien breezes through the world and through his collection of women, sweet-talking his way around his employees in a way that he certainly sees as charming, but for the rest of us, it’s more about holding the smile until he walks away. The movie starts with a reminder that his success isn’t just a result of his masculine wiles but is borne from his ability to think on his feet.
When a client suggests that they are going to work with a different company that’s more “women-forward” merely for the optics, he steps in to imply that his company just promoted a woman to a senior position to lead the new campaign. Thus, we have the promotion of Alex Fox, played by Rosamund Pike, as the next step of the Ladies First script. The promotion is randomly offered to Fox, despite her 20 years at the company making her deserving of the role. Immediately, she realizes that the position she earned was to be a mere figurehead for the business. She does what any woman would want to and quits, but not before speaking her mind and storming off.
Damien, realising this won’t do, chases after her, reminding her of how easy she has it while he has to fight for his position at the top. In the rush, he knocks himself out on a pole, and wakes up to his worst nightmare: a world where women hold all the power and treat men like frivolous, delicate objects that are better seen than heard. And thus, the plot unfolds. What ensues is an absurdist comedy about a world where men care more about their waistlines and their physical appeal than much else, working under women who don’t know better than to keep their sexist comments in check. To reverse things back to the way the world was meant to run in his eyes, Damien must now fight for that promotion and rise to the top.
The Ladies First Movie Takes a Heavy-Handed Approach to the Roles in the Workplace
Sexism and misogyny are painted with light-hearted strokes that make them more palatable, explained more through the man’s perspective of meeting the same conditions rather than repeating the woman’s experience for an audience that has either heard and doesn’t care about, or doesn’t want to hear again. Men are plastered across billboards, now dressing for the female gaze and working in positions where their emotional nature won’t disrupt the important workings of the organization.
Women laze around at home while their sons braid each other’s hair, and fathers are now weepy, emotional figures who listen and empathize with their sons’ struggles. Female executives similarly lounge about propositioning their male counterparts, making comments about keeping HR out of their well-meaning compliments. Meetings center around sexist pitches that are demeaning at best, and there is little attention paid to the one man at the meeting who could throw some light on what the male target audience might like to see.
Damien’s battle to be heard at work comes with some laughably contrite efforts to spruce up his wardrobe, work out in his room, make some cosmetic upgrades to his physical form, and invest heavily in skincare. While the movie does touch on what the stereotypes suggest women do to stay ahead and make their perspectives more worth listening to, it also does a disservice to the actual issue and how much women invest in their education and opinions before speaking up at work. The comedy is well-intentioned, but in a world where we are already aware of the challenges women face, this reversal of roles only serves to undermine the cause.
The Challenges Faced by Women In the Workplace Are Obvious Enough Today
While we expected the Ladies First movie to be mired in controversy, considering some of its more extreme offerings and the language used against men, there is little noise around the release of this movie. We could attribute this to the film entirely missing an audience willing to watch it. Those who care about women’s issues and feel strongly about these topics are more likely to be put off by this depiction of what a woman-centered world would look like. Those who don’t much care for these social issues are unlikely to be swayed by these glaring depictions of what it might look like to walk a mile in a woman’s boots. Femininity remains the punchline.
As much as Ladies First is a movie about women’s issues, it is a movie about a man learning how to be empathetic and a woman losing her role as CEO to make it happen. The issues are well understood and vividly depicted, but ultimately do little to sway those who aren’t looking for contrary media to gain perspective. We have the data to suggest that things are unbalanced, but it is the work to enforce change that is missing. McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2025 report found that for the 11th consecutive year, women remain underrepresented at every level of the corporate pipeline, accounting for only 29% of C-suite roles.
This difference starts right from the bottom of the hierarchy, where women face a “broken rung” to the initial step-up to manager. For every 100 men who are promoted, only 93 women see similar opportunities. The number falls to 74 for women of color. This ensures that women are less likely to step onto the path of promotion, and they are also less likely to have effective sponsorship to push even harder to be included. We know this to be true, but it is the lack of incentive to change that continues to hold us back.
Why The DEI Narrative Hurts Genuine Talent Today
With the way that the conversation around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is now framed, the mere idea of promoting a woman to an earned position is seen as pandering to the masses. Regardless of their skills and qualifications, women continue to combat accusations of being a diversity hire who got ahead merely on the basis of their gender. Their presence at the table is often questioned, and so is their ability to work under pressure, despite having proven themselves in both areas.
This isn’t an industry-specific problem. NASA Mission Specialist Christina Koch has inspired generations of women and girls to pursue their dreams through her participation in the Artemis moon mission. However, the announcement of her inclusion in the crew was met with considerable negativity from some sections of the population. This, despite the extensive qualifications that made her eligible for the role. The involvement of Victor Glover was met with similar questions of his eligibility, but there was little investigation into the qualifications of the other two astronauts and what made them ideal for such a mission.
Biased narratives not only limit who is represented but also limit what they can do in that role. The very nature of opportunity often changes based on gender, even with all other metrics remaining stable. To correct this, we require a collective push towards building equality of opportunity and support across the organization, and it can take more than a single C-suite exec with a spiritual awakening to set things right.
Final Thoughts to Wrap Up Our Review of Ladies First
As satirical as the movie is, the message is somewhat diluted by the continued sexualization of workers and the lack of any truly challenging ideas that offer a solution to where we go from here. The hyperfeminization of men and the continued chain of oppression are hardly the end goal. Neither are women vying for gender-swapped versions of Harry Potter and Don Quixote. Much like the 2000’s movie What Women Want and Naomi Alderman’s 2016 book The Power, the story attempts to challenge the world as it operates today by asking its audience, “How would you like it if this happened to you?” But the conclusion is that no one wants what is being offered, and yet we are also unlikely to change these power dynamics until pushed to do so.
A review of Ladies First would also be incomplete without acknowledging its strengths. For all its faults, Ladies First has its heart in the right place, packing its 84-minute runtime full of jokes and glaring quips that remind you that this is no longer a man’s world, making allusions to practices and principles that women are often expected to adhere to in order to get recognized at work or outside of it.
Those terms may set Ladies First up to be a feminist classic, but that’s far from the case. Ladies First is a fairly clear case of misandry, where the world-building is centered on demeaning and belittling the male population, which, in its way, is the point of the film. As things stand, the world is largely oriented towards men in power, and directly flipping matters could leave us with another extremist world. What we need is balance and change geared towards equality.
As in-your-face as some of the humor is, there are also moments where the movie does flash its teeth. Some of the dialogues are delivered with an off-handed air that almost makes you miss the cleverness of the writing. The subtle switching of the soundtrack to female renditions of popular songs was also a nice touch. The jabs technically land each time they are dealt, and for an audience willing to listen, they will walk away recognizing what Cohen’s character has: that something needs changing. Unfortunately, with the exclusive release on Netflix that will limit the movie’s reach and the polarized opinions that persist today, it’s unlikely that the movie will be fondly watched or remembered. A happy conclusion with the promise of equal pay is sometimes all we can ask for.
Have your own review of Ladies First to share with us? Leave us your thoughts in the comments. Subscribe to The HR Digest for more insights into the shifting nature of workplace dynamics and the many conversations that are taking place around it.
