Ladies First
Netflix | Release Date (Streaming): May 22, 2026 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
38
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews
Positive:
0
Mixed:
7
Negative:
4

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJun 8, 2026
Pike and Shaw throw themselves at this even if Mortimer has almost nothing to play, even if Cohen’s funny moments are few and far between, straining for humor in a movie that probably came along five years too late to deliver. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comKatie RifeMay 26, 2026
Maybe back in the ‘80s this premise would have seemed fresh; at this point, it’s practically reactionary. Read full review
30
Screen RantAlex HarrisonMay 22, 2026
Netflix's new movie is no shoddy disaster – it's a competently, if unexceptionally, mounted production by director Thea Sharrock, featuring an impressive British and Irish cast. It's not entirely without laughs, either. But this story of a chauvinist who bumps his head and wakes up in a world where women are in charge is so fundamentally misguided that I at times could not believe I was actually watching it. A comedy sketch premise stretched to feature length, the team behind Ladies First should have spent a little less time on thinking up gender-flipped jokes and more time wondering whether they actually had a coherent story worth telling. Read full review
16
The A.V. ClubJacob OllerMay 26, 2026
The ensuing shenanigans parade a cast of slumming heavy-hitters (Fiona Shaw, Charles Dance) going through the motions of ancient “battle of the sexes” jokes. Read full review
20
The GuardianBenjamin LeeMay 22, 2026
For a film so unashamedly silly, it’s also incredibly, tiresomely un-fun and, by the end, laughably earnest, as if we should all be learning a very important lesson. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckMay 22, 2026
The film moves swiftly enough, with the gags coming at such a consistent pace, that inevitably some of them land. And the performers certainly know how to sell the material, with Cohen amusingly leaning into his character’s humiliations, Pike appealingly reveling in her character’s dominance, and the top-notch supporting cast going through their paces like the pros they are. Read full review
50
The New York TimesLisa KennedyMay 22, 2026
The easy feminism of winks and role reversals quickly wears thin. Read full review
25
The PlaylistBrian FarvourJun 3, 2026
From the sigh-inducing jokes to the rom-com blueprint “Ladies First” never strays from, the film keeps threatening to become stranger and more interesting than it is. Read full review
55
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiMay 22, 2026
Thea Sharrock’s film effectively skewers institutionalized misogyny and sexist comedy movie tropes, but the message was clearer and more powerful in the original short, which was allowed to be disturbing without also having to be funny. Read full review
40
VarietyTodd GilchristMay 22, 2026
Rather than stirring a debate, or even inspiring deeper cultural introspection, Sharrock and her collaborators deliver a trifle. For a satire about progress, “Ladies First” relies on far too many ideas from the past — cinematic even more than cultural. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonMay 22, 2026
Ladies First invites pointed as well as pungent jokes, and the opportunities are fully exploited, sometimes with enormous wit. Read full review
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