Gringo

GRINGO

Director : Nash Edgerton

Year : 2018

Genre : Comedy

Rating : *1/2  

One of the most instantly forgettable movies of recent years, Nash Edgerton's screwball crime comedy 'Gringo' wastes an impressive cast on a dull as ditchwater premise and a by-the-numbers script that follows all of the cliches and conventions of the genre to a depressingly predictable tee. In the film, David Oyelowo stars as Harold, a soon-to-be sacked employee of a giant pharmaceutical company (headed by Joel Edgerton's Richard (brother of the film's director) and Charlize Theron's Cruella-esque Elaine) who fakes his own kidnapping while on a business trip in Mexico. While the movie fails to entertain on almost any discernible level, 'Gringo' does have a few moments of genuine comedy, the majority of which are provided by the always watchable Oyelowo whose over-the-top reactions do raise at least a chuckle or two. However, thanks to several unnecessary subplots (poor Amanda Seyfried and Harry Steadaway appear to have been airlifted from an entirely different picture) and a convoluted narrative that shamelessly recycles ideas from much better films, 'Gringo' is a muddled and, at times, utterly incoherent mess that would have easily put me to sleep if it wasn't for the intermittent gunfights and explosions suddenly jolting me out of my torpor-like state.