User reviews

Let's start by saying that this is a dark comedy. Reading some of the worse reviews I get a sense that maybe they have missed this. The movie is thoroughly enjoyable, not one single weak actor in the cast and all performing well. Hat's off to Charlize Theoron, she is already one of my favourite actresses and has further cemented my opinion of her here.

Watch Harold, a victim of circumstance, muddle his was through his seemingly disaster filled life, all whilst trying to do the right thing, while others want to take advantage. Highly recommend this movie

This movie was pretty good. I did not have much expectation do to the ratings and some of the reviews. It was a fun movie, with comedy and action all in one. David Oyelowo was great as Harold. All in all good movie to relax and eat popcorn.

Ok it's not the smartest story line but it was what it was supposed to be just a fun, story of an underdog. I can't stand 1 and 2 raters small minds for small reviews. Strong 7.5 not quite an 8 though

This movie was really funny and full of talented actors. Daniel Oyelowo holds it all together as the hapless protagonist. A cavalcade of goofy criminals and clever plot twists and turns keep it speeding along at a fast clip. Loads of fun.

Read the review by "scattershooting" to get the gist of the movie. I just want to add, that while I don't disagree with the review, I want to encourage you to see the film. it is well written and acted and you'll have a good time. it's a movie after all. it's not a sin to aim too high.

Worth a watch. Fun ride. Worth a watch. Fun ride. Worth a watch. Fun ride. Worth a watch. Fun ride. Worth a watch. Fun ride.

Joel Edgerton (Warrior, Zero Dark Thirty and Bright) always brings his A-game, Charlize Theron is money in heels all the way to the bank... But it's David Oyelowo who steals this show. It's listed as an action, comedy, crime... There's plenty of crime and a fair amount of action, but it is dark comedy, so don't expect it to be side-splittingly hilarious... The humour is in Oyelowo's reactions to his increasingly outlandish situations... Also Sharlto Copley helps out a bit in that department, as a well-intentioned mercenary. Amanda Seyfried (Sunny), and Thandie Newton are also reliable back-up in any movie venture, and hold their own in supporting roles here. Dialogue flows smoothly, and is particularly good between certain characters. Camera work is competent, as are all the other elements to make this an interesting fish-out-of-water caper that is easy to watch. It seems it has been largely overlooked though, and that's a shame, 'cause it's a strong 6 in my book.

A straight-laced, play-by-the-book, honest Nigerian named Harold (David Oleyowo) is getting dumped on by everyone he knows: his boss Richard (Joel Edgerton), his wife Bonnie (Thandie Newton) and even his boss's partner Elaine (Charlize Theron). If you want to call him a good man that wants to do the right thing and please everybody then you can call him that. If you want to call him a sap that is ninja level naive then I would say that's a better description. He is so trusting and naive it's nauseating. The company he works for is involved in some illegal dealings and things go awry when he and his superiors go to Mexico.

To put it simply: I wasn't feeling this movie, not even from the beginning. Is it a comedy? Is it a drama? Is it an action? Is it a crime mystery? I was lost hence I didn't know how to treat the movie. One thing it wasn't, it wasn't good. It was full of hyperbole characters that you were supposed to love or hate: I hated them all--including the main character. Harold was so gullible he bordered on special needs. His boss, Richard, possessed every trait that you'd hate in a person which made him uber-unlikeable. His boss's partner, Elaine, had an ambiguous role in the movie but she certainly was a living, breathing setback for the #metoo movement. And Harold's wife, Bonnie, seemed to be in the movie only to complete the picture of how naive and pathetic Harold was.

The plot was not much better than the characters. It was a David and Goliath/Little Engine that Could/Underdog story that wasn't told any better than the millions of movies with such a plot before it. I think if the movie went all out comedy it would have been so much better. They were already using caricatures for the characters and there were a few funny scenes so they should have gone even more extreme with it and then we'd have something. But instead they were stuck somewhere between "to be funny or not to be funny? That is the question." So they just failed.

While you sort of know how it's going to work out it's a fun ride to see how you get there. Charlize was amazing. Entertaining and fun! I think a lot of the reviewers here while they know movies, don't have a very good sense of humor.

'GRINGO': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

An action-comedy about an American businessman that's handling the business of a marijuana pill in Mexico, for his American employers, when he's kidnapped by the cartel there. The film stars David Oyelowo, Joel Edgerton, Charlize Theron, Sharlto Copley, Amanda Seyfried and Thandie Newton. It was directed by Nash Edgerton (Joel's brother), and scripted by Anthony Tambakis and Matthew Stone. The film has gotten mostly negative reviews from critics, and it's also bombed at the Box Office as well. I was also not impressed by it.

Harold Soyinka (Oyelowo) is a down on his luck businessman, who works for Cannabix Technologies Inc.. His employers have developed a medical marijuana 'Weed Pill', and they send Harold to Mexico to handle the manufacturing of it there. The Mexican cartel wants the technology for itself though, so they kidnap Harold and demand a ransom (or so it seems). Harold's bosses (Edgerton and Theron) send a professional (Copley) in to Mexico to rescue him. Things don't go as planned though.

The movie is overly complicated, dull and uninvolving. It's a shame too, because the cast is fantastic. I really wanted to like it, and root for another Edgerton to succeed (Joel is doing amazing, he's cast in everything it seems). I couldn't wait for the film to be over though, and I found very little of it to be amusing or funny at all. Even when Sharlto Copley enters the movie, he couldn't breathe any new life into it!

No, I do not recommend this movie. The story develops very, very slow, you could easily skip the first hour and still follow the movie, very little happens and there is a LOT of talking. The action in this movie is limited to one (1) scene at the end of the movie. Then the title, Gringo (gringo usually refers to an English-speaking male foreigner, especially one from the United States) does not apply because the main character (Harold) comes from Nigeria. Then the humor, well, is has 3 or 4 moments, that's it. Plus are the camera work and that the acting is not completely stupid. The movie left me very unsatisfied.

I don't know how you could get more out of an action comedy. The story was GREAT. The acting was GREAT. If you like a fast-pasted Guy-Ritchie-type of film-dialing the action scenes back a notch and the acting and script up a notch-then watch. All I have to say, no spoilers needed.

Dark-Comedies are an acquired taste, but once you develop it you have the ability to appreciate more satirical comedy. David Oyelowo attempts to bring this genre to life this weekend in the movie Gringo, a film that has some bite I didn't expect from a movie this early in the year. But what zany adventures will unfold when a black man is stuck between the high stakes world of pharmaceutical development and the cartels? Well that is what this film attempts to answer, and it is my job to give you the 411 on the latest movies to storm the screen. Let's go!

LIKES:

-David Oyelowo Acting -Morale dilemma -Funny at times -Fast-Paced

Gringo is a movie that likes to go over the top, with characters that are all about going to one extreme or the other. However David Oyelowo is the character that has a little more dynamic than the other. Oyelowo is fun to watch, for me being the funniest character with his loud, rambunctious delivery of lines that are loaded with high-pitched panicking screams. Yet he is able to turn that energy around, and focus it to give a character that is worth looking into as he tries to navigate the hostile world he wound up in. Like his character Harold, Oyelowo keeps things very relatable and invests his time to making a good adventure. But what is an adventure without a little ethics debate to come into the light. Gringo does this just right as the conversation of doing the right thing vs. the selfish thing constantly rears its ugly head in the cartel wastelands that this film takes place in. Harold's journey not only tests his own morals, but inspires others to address their own life choices, from settling on abusive boyfriends to what one will do to get money to accomplish their personal goals. It fits okay into the movie, but there are some hard hitting dialogue moments to help reassure that the best stuff doesn't mean the best life. As stated earlier, dark comedies are a little dryer than other, more modern comedies so you have to be ready for more delivery and timing to do the lifting. Gringo has some legit comedic moments, really taking an awkward situation and turning it into a tear inducing riot of laughs. These moments often have a nice, clever zing to them, that Oyelowo maximizes using his natural accent and mannerisms. And all of these components are able to be placed in a decently paced run time that minimizes the slow and maximizes the thrills.

DISLIKES:

-Curse heavy dialogue -Not as funny as I had hoped -Much ruined by trailers -A little chaotic at the end

You've read my reviews, but you know that lazy writing that relies of cursing doesn't get my stamp of approval. Gringo has extreme characters that don't use the most advanced language, relying once more on F-bombs and sleazy pick up lines to do the talking. While pertinent to the story, for once, and sometimes entertaining, Gringo utilized these tactics too much for my tastes. Even the yelling of Oyelowo got old, with many of his pleas soon running dry like the desert he ran through. As such, this movie didn't really have the comedic punch I wanted, but more a thrill seeking, dark adventure with a little comedic buff thrown in. Perhaps this is also due to the fact that a lot of the funny parts had been advertised to death in the trailers, resulting in the overplayed scene being boring by show time. And once the last scene started to end and all the stories came together, things sort of wrapped up in a chaotic package that wasn't in time with the movie. Not the worst mind you, but not what I quite expected from the trailers.

The VERDICT:

Gringo is okay, and designed for a select audience that wants the darker things in life to be ridiculed. This film is a legitimate mixture of drama, crime, adventure and comedy, taking these aspects and twisting it into a semi-entertaining story with some moral obligations to address. While I enjoyed Oyelowo and the well-timed zingers, I still can't say this was the best, most unique comedy to hit the screen. The extreme characters, mundane dialog, and chaotic organization (ruined by the trailers), didn't deliver the expected feel I got from the advertising and as such left more to be desired. So I recommend skipping this one and hitting something else in the month of March.

My scores are:

Action/Comedy/Crime: 7.0 Movie Overall: 6.0

Movies like this are supposed to be focused on the circumstances, a one-off, nothing deep, and this was well achieved with Gringo. I laughed at some appropriate moments, nothing felt unbelievable, and the lead was likeable. Basic stuff, but basic stuff not done poorly.

Worth the time.

'Gringo (2018)' is an uneven and unsure piece, one that stumbles over its tone and pacing more times than you can count and yet manages to pick itself off the ground on pretty much every such occasion. Its massively slow start paves the way for an, at times, incredibly exciting but then strangely dull adventure with peaks and valleys of the highest and lowest proportions. It continuously cuts back to an all-star cast who sadly drain the life of the film as, though they are all brilliant, they each play narcissistic sociopaths who aren't nearly as radiant or interesting as David Oyelowo's eponymous hero - who is played to perfection and is earnestly enjoyable on many levels. The overall effect of the flick is an enjoyable but forgettable one, a sense that a better - if slightly more traditional - story resides somewhere inside this mess. It's not bad, but it's not great either. 6/10

This feels like some filmmaker's attempt at imitating a Guy Ritchie-style crime comedy movie, like Snatch or Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, where a variety of different criminals in initially unrelated plot lines end up hilariously crossing paths by coincidence and bungling each other's plans, although Gringo falls short of achieving quite the same level of rapid pace and witty humor. Despite that, I was mildly entertained enough by Gringo to give it a decent rating, even if it could have been better.

This movie is definitely better than the 6.0 rating here.

Not a cheesy comedy due to award winning Sir David oleyowa ( famed MI6 actor) Intriging and surprice ending. Charlise Theron was beautiful and funny as usual and added lots of entertainment. Good acting by Black Panther cartel boss. overall I laughed and giggled a lot.

I was able to watch this movie at home on BluRay from my public library.

The story mainly concerns a character played by David Oyelowo. He is Harold, a dedicated, serious, hard-working employee of a firm located in Chicago. His "best friend" runs the company, but as things unfold we see that his friend is duplicitous and will do anything for the bottom line.

Harold goes to Mexico but finds out his company sale is imminent and he will be out of a job. Industriously he plots to fake his own kidnapping in an attempt to get a big severance for himself. $5Million sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

Yet nothing goes as it should, the mess gets bigger and bigger. It is a dark comedy, lots of funny stuff but characters get shot and killed. While I enjoyed it as an interesting diversion, with very good actors, in total it isn't a particularly good movie.

This movie was unexpectedly funny and enjoyable. Charlize Theron was excellent and the bad ass vixen business woman. Oleyowo was actually funny and quick and I liked how his character was clever. Joel Edgerton was expertly hate-able as the bad guy. and oh my goodness Alan Ruck! God bless Alan Ruck for his roles as the wimpy naive guy. The side story with Amanda Seyfried was distracting because it felt forced into the storyline. Also taking a few points off for the gruesome violence, which was just a bit much at times. This movie isn't discovering the cure for cancer or achieving world peace, but it delivers the necessary bang for your buck as entertainment. So if you would like to get lost in a lighthearted comedy for a couple of hours, this is the movie for you.