There comes a point in Amazon Studios' Gringo where you just ask yourself: how did this film get made? How did a film, a comedy with no comedy in it, see the light of the silver screen? A film with so much wrong, including an overload of unnecessary subplots, stereotyping the people of Mexico, and being borderline racist, Gringo managed to get every single thing wrong. And, based off the two minute trailer, the film was expected to be bad; but not the colossal mess that the final product turned out to be. Here's why Gringo already has a place in the list of worst movies of 2018. The film tells the story of Harold, a man working for a pharmaceutical company based in Chicago. Harold's life is seeing constant troubles; especially his married life, work life, and financial life. The troubles only start to get bigger as he heads down to Mexico for his company, with very little reasoning provided by the film to the audience. From there, a series of crazy events start to occur, and Harold enters the dangerous world of the Mexican cartels. If you've seen the trailer for Gringo, you might be wondering why this doesn't sound like the film at all; and that is because the film itself is a completely different movie than advertised in the trailers. I have myself convinced that there is a better, more entertaining, version of Gringo out there that actually provides decent entertainment and good laughs. But, for now, we are stuck with this sloppy mess. The film is just boring. I distinctly remember laughing... one time throughout all 110 minutes of the film. One time. And they have the nerve to classify this film as a comedy. The film bounces around between countless plots, most of which serve nothing to the actual meaning of the film. I found the film a little bit racist, especially through Charlize Theoren and Joel Edgerton's characters, who I thought disrespected the country of Mexico in their performances. The film stereotyped the country of Mexico as well, and made it seem like every single person in Mexico was part of a drug cartel, which I am positive is not true. Amanda Seyfried was completely unnecessary in the movie, and the plot involving her did nothing but add unneeded minutes to an already too-long movie. In the world we live in, we don't need another movie stereotyping a group of people, and essentially mocking them. Sadly, we have enough people in this world who do that already. Rather, we need films that show diversity and culture (such as Marvel Studios' fantastic Black Panther). Which is one of the many reasons why Gringo falls flat.
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