Some comedians have to wallow in the swamplands of cheap laughs before getting a chance to shine. Look at Bob Saget, who spent years in family-friendly TV hell before becoming America's leading re-definer of what constitutes "blue humor."

Seemingly, transgressive British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen slummed for awhile too, if the film debut of the title character from the hit "Da Ali G Show" is any indication. If "Ali G Indahouse" is any indication, Cohen began life as a peddler of lowest-common-denominator tripe before spreading his wings as a trans-Atlantic satirist. Thank God for personal growth.

"Indahouse" debuted in the U.K. in 2002 and on DVD in the U.S. in 2004. Before the success of "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" two years later, Cohen and "Da Ali G Show" were well-received albeit relatively unrecognized sources of prying, incendiary comedy, with Cohen commonly portraying the clueless Ali G, Borat or his latest film transplant, Bruno, while interviewing hapless civilians and public figures. Regrettably, "Indahouse" retains none of Cohen's guerrilla-warfare style of humor from "Ali G" or his later films, instead relying on lame scatological gags and forced stoner humor.

Ali (Cohen) lives in Staines, a suburb of London, but dreams of life as a "gangsta" in a Compton straight outta an NWA song. He spends his days daydreaming, snogging his girlfriend, Julie (Kellie Bright), and hanging out with his "gang," Da West Staines Massiv, comprising his friends Ricky C (Martin Freeman) and Dave (Tony Way). He also teaches a class at the local leisure center on how children can survive the mean streets of Staines. Upon discovering that recent government legislation will remove all funding for the center, Ali embarks on a hunger strike to petition the government to reconsider.

During his ill-conceived act of civil disobedience, Ali is noticed by David Carlton (Charles Dance), an ambitious, conniving member of Parliament who brings Ali into the political fold to further his own agenda of disgracing the sitting prime minister (Michael Gambon) and seizing control of the office. Carlton's dastardly aspirations are foiled, though, when Ali's buffoonish behavior and in-your-face simplicity strike a chord with the British masses, rocketing Ali and the PM into massive popular approval.

"Indahouse" is more akin to a low-brow comedy by a "Saturday Night Live" alumnus than Cohen's later, more provocative fare. Its take on politics is similar to the dismal Chris Farley/David Spade vehicle, "Black Sheep," while the tone is more like an Adam Sandler movie, and not the good one ("Happy Gilmore"). The plot, where an average, strangely charismatic nobody gets unexpectedly inducted into the corrupt world of politics, recalls the execrable Sandler-fronted Capra remake, "Mr. Deeds." The rest of the film comprises stoner humor which has been done to death before and since by films like the "Friday" franchise, the "Harold & Kumar" movies and "Pineapple Express." The results are disappointing no matter on which side of the Atlantic you find yourself.