Nash Edgerton’s dark action comedy is little more than a collage of feints and misdirection, but its anarchic spirit makes for a tolerably good time. The hero is the titular gringo, Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo), a principled Nigerian immigrant who serves as operations director of a pharmaceutical company headed by his college pal Richard (Joel Edgerton) and cynical Elaine (Charlize Theron), with whom married Richard is sharing more than office space. Unbeknownst to Harold, Richard and Elaine are planning to sell the company—which is about to launch a prospectively game-changing marijuana pill—to a larger firm, dumping him in the process, but to smooth the way they need to sever ties with a Mexican drug lord they have been supplying with weed. When Harold learns of their scheme during a trip to Mexico, he decides to stage his own kidnapping and pocket the ransom money that Richard will have to pay. Of course, Howard’s plan goes awry, and he finds himself pursued by the drug lord’s thugs, Richard’s crazy brother, and a variety of other oddball characters. Despite a few logical holes, the intricacies and reversals here tie together reasonably well, while the cast seems to enjoy the cartoonish antics of this comic pulp, a mixture of nasty farce and violent action. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” featurette (4 min.), a location featurette (4 min.), production segments on stunts (4 min.), and a “Who Is Harold?” character featurette (2 min.). Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus DVD and digital copies of the film. Bottom line: a small extras package for an uneven but often entertaining film.] (F. Swietek)
Gringo
Universal, 111 min., R, DVD: $29.99, Blu-ray/DVD Combo: $34.99, June 5 Volume 33, Issue 4
Gringo
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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