Sacha Baron Cohen was originally going to play Sir Richard McCreadie but dropped out. After Steve Coogan was cast in the lead Isla Fisher was cast as Sir Richard McCreadie's ex-wife and she is married to Sacha Baron Cohen in real life.
Winterbottom's stuff is always interesting but unfortunately this one fell at some obvious hurdles. For two thirds it was an effective satire with some good performances (Coogan, as ever, a hoot) and some funny lines but in the final furlong any semblance of subtlety was dropped for silly plot developments and cheap sentiment, bashing the audience over the head with a point that had already been well made. A shame.
