It’s a crime it’s not quite a comedy
AN earnest businessman learns that pharma bros can’t be trusted in Gringo, a vaguely Elmore Leonard-ish crime comedy that takes place mostly in Mexico.
Throw in a businesswoman who invites sexual harassment as a way of getting what she wants, and you have a movie that’s certainly edgy, not offensive.
It’s often not quite either: a sometimes amusing, sometimes draggy and overstuffed affair that always relies on its talent-rich cast to carry the day.
David Oyelowo plays Harold, a Nigerian immigrant who has become a mid-level exec at a pharmaceutical company run by college “friend” Richard
(Joel Edgerton). Richard and co-worker/lover Elaine (Charlize Theron) are planning a merger with another big drug-maker, which will put Harold out of a job. But they keep him in the dark, taking him with them to Mexico to facilitate a meeting with – well, now you mention it, there’s no reason for them to bring Harold along, except the screenplay needs a kidnapping plot.
That’s because Richard and Elaine, whose company developed a medicinal-marijuana pill called Cannabax, have been selling buckets of the stuff to a drug lord, an off-the-books racket that Harold knows nothing about.
Why someone who presumably has an unlimited supply of organic weed would want to peddle their pills is never explained. But our kingpin Villegas (Carlos Corona), also known as the Black Panther
(sorry, King T’challa), is deeply unhappy when the Americans try to stop their illegal arrangement in preparation for the scrutiny that accompanies big mergers.
He wants the formula for their pot pill, and is under the mistaken impression that Harold is the man who can give it to him.
Trouble is headed Harold’s way, but before it gets there, he finds out about his bosses’ plans to wreck his career. Harold flees and stages his own kidnapping, hoping the company will pay a ransom he can keep.
The movie’s action gets a boost when Richard calls in his brother (Sharlto Copley), a former mercenary who thinks he can retrieve Harold without costing the firm a bundle. This reformed hitman doesn’t really belong. But sequences built around him offer a surprise laugh, and are welcome. – Hollywood Reporter