Good cast not enough to save ‘Gringo’
The good news is David Oyelowo is a terrific comedic actor (who knew!). The bad news is that the vehicle for discovery, Nash Edgerton’s “Gringo,” is a contrived action-comedy that is trying its hardest to shock and offend, but, you know, in a funny, cool B-movie way that involves someone’s toe getting cut off with wire clippers and Charlize Theron, a seductress in a corner suite, talking a lot about sex.
Oyelowo plays Harold, a Nigerian immigrant and middle manager for a pharma company run by his friend Richard (Joel Edgerton). His bosses are mass producing a marijuana pill so that they’ll be ready to conquer the market when it’s legalized in the U.S., but unbeknownst to him they’re sustaining their business on illegal sales in Mexico.
We know Harold’s life is sad because we’re introduced to him in the middle of a bitter Chicago winter. He takes his pup out in the freezing cold in the morning and then goes to meet with his accountant, who informs Harold that his wife, Bonnie (Thandie Newton) is digging them into massive debt.
Greedy, selfish wife? Emasculated provider husband who is also mistreated at work? A soulless set of bosses, one a vacuous bro, the other (Theron’s Elaine) who uses sex, dirty talk and unbuttoned silk blouses to close business deals, who are involved in a shady business arrangement in Mexico and are ready to send Harold packing.
Sounds like a setup only a screenwriter (in this case, two, Anthony Tambakis and Matthew Stone) in need of a launching pad for a crazy, Cartel-adjacent Mexican adventure could dream up. The result is none of these characters resemble recognizable humans, or even compelling “types.”
One and a half stars out of four.