The world of filmmaking is notoriously male led. And although there are a handful of women who are allowed to direct now and again, it’s mainly men, directing manly men in manly films.

One British broad had the nerve to make a film that turns the tables on all mankind, that finds a man forced to learn what it means to be a woman in a man’s world. Bloody cheek.

Head of London advertising agency Atlas is Damien Sachs (Sacha Baron Cohen); he’s a self-confessed arse hole, and is forced to promote a woman in his ranks to an executive position, to keep the powers-at-be happy.

This is a surprise for Alex Fox (Rosamund Pike), who has toiled for 20 years within the company, but is overjoyed to accept this new position.

Her first day doesn’t go well however, when it dawns on her that her promotion was nothing more than tokenism.

Feeling smug with himself, Damien leaves work only to walk into a post and whack his head, knocking himself out.

When he wakes up, he’s quickly confronted by the realisation that he’s in a different world; a world where women are now the new men, owners of companies – including his own, treating men poorly and as nothing more than sexual objects.

He meets Pigeon Man (Richard E. Grant), known for, well, having pigeons on his person, who tells him not to worry, the situation is reversible; all he has to do is get (back) the top job in his company, and normal service will swiftly resume.

He soon discovers though, it’s not easy for a man to succeed in a woman’s world.

This film’s premise is a simple one – that director Thea Sharrock (Wicked Little Letters) couldn’t even come with by herself, adapted from a French Netflix film (2018’s I Am Not an Easy Man) as it is - with a chauvinist pig being showed the error of his ways, in a kind of A Christmas Carol fashion.

It’s also written by three women, when everyone knows it would have only taken one man to write, but still. The good news is, is that it’s fairly entertaining. The gags come fast and furiously at first, but the film does admittedly run out of steam by the end, which is only to be expected from a one note gag of a film – a fun, silly one, but one all the same.

Cohen continues to pursue roles that don’t necessitate him to don outrageous personas, à la Borat and Ali G. That said, he may well have tapped into Brüno’s personality to tease some femininity into Damien, but his semi-straight performance isn’t entirely convincing.

All the female cast seem to embrace the opportunity to mock masculinity, especially Pike and the wonderful Fiona Shaw. And shamefully one actor, Tom Davis, is woefully underused, and is a prime example of sexism in the industry.

And as admittedly funny as the first half is, it does feel like a strong sketch that is just stretched too far to cover 90 minutes; we’ve kind of seen it done before, with French & Saunders and their hilarious ‘Fat Men’ sketch characters in from the eighties.

There are some nice visual gags too, as well as the broad stroke observations, that keep the smiles – if not laughs – ticking over throughout.

There is an argument that it could be the perfect antidote to the all too current manoverse culture we find our sorry selves in, if only they had the brains to understand it.

Yes it’s one gag, that no doubt could have been a more esoteric experience in the hands of a man directing it, but it’s a brave attempt for a woman to hold up that mirror of hypocrisy, sexism and chauvinism that exists, so good for her, bless her little cotton socks.