Chaotic comedy ‘Gringo’ doesn’t quite come together

Published 1:30 am Friday, March 9, 2018

At one point in “Gringo,” after the hero has tried to fake his own kidnapping and been manhandled by the Mexican mafia and learned his wife is having an affair, he gets a pat on the back from a sympathetic stranger. “Things are going to start to get better for you,” she says.

At that point, two men in Mexican wrestling masks break into the cheap motel room and begin throwing punches. That’s the kind of movie “Gringo” is — it tends to go for the obvious.

But at the very least, there ought to be some kind of entertaining explanation for how the gringo got into this situation. And here, fitfully, the film does provide diversion.

The beleaguered hero is Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo), a middle-management flunky married to a free-spending designer (Thandie Newton). Harold’s bosses, played with oily gusto by Joel Edgerton (also in “Red Sparrow”) and Charlize Theron, accompany him to Mexico to strong-arm their business partners south of the border.

Harold very quickly realizes he’s expendable, and hatches the phony kidnapping plan, to get his rotten bosses to pay a ransom. Messing this up, among other things, is that his company is involved with a drug-cartel chieftain, who is not amused at the farcical activities of these gringos.

We also have a former hired killer (“District 9” star Sharlto Copley) and two inept American drug smugglers (Amanda Seyfried, Harry Treadaway), all of whom cross paths with Harold’s increasingly daft adventures.

There should be more movies operating at the level between the mega-blockbuster and the indie art picture, but “Gringo” isn’t tight enough to get the job done. It’s got cynical zingers that presumably attracted the cool cast, but overall the many moving parts don’t quite mesh.

The director is Nash Edgerton, Joel’s brother, whose previous feature as a director, 2010’s “The Square,” was a tense noir where all the little pieces did fit together. You can see “Gringo” aiming for the same jigsaw structure — and despite the problems, the final 10 minutes or so come together in a satisfying way.

The cast helps keep it afloat. Oyelowo goes surprisingly broad, but I suppose if your best-known role was Martin Luther King Jr. (in “Selma”), you might jump at the chance for some silly comedy, too. Charlize Theron gives the impression of putting arsenic in her breakfast smoothies and liking the buzz, but because she’s already established her skill at nastiness (in movies like “Young Adult” and “Snow White and the Huntsman”), it doesn’t carry the tang of surprise.

Controlled chaos can be a blast. “Gringo” has chaos in abundance, but needs a good deal more control.

“Gringo” (2 stars)

A chaotic comedy about a middle-management flunky (David Oyelowo) whose business trip to Mexico turns into a wild attempt to fake his own kidnapping. Lots of cynical zingers in this black comedy, and a good cast, but there’s a sense the gears just don’t entirely mesh. With Charlize Theron, Joel Edgerton.

Rated: R, for violence, language

Showing: Alderwood Mall, Everett Stadium, Galaxy Monroe, Marysville, Meridian, Thornton Place, Woodinville, Cascade Mall