‘Gringo’ Will Make You Laugh, Cringe, and Scratch Your Head

You might find comedy in the casting alone, as David Oyelowo – known for his performance as Martin Luther King in Ava Duvernay’s Selma – plays a milquetoast sap caught in the middle of Gringo’s hijinks. He plays Harold, the unwitting fool to drug trafficking, corruption, and murder, but the real laughs come from a more unexpected place, taking the form of hilariously bad people being unabashedly terrible. The results send Harold’s life into a spiral as Gringo implicitly searches for the truth in whether good and bad people get what they deserve. Harold is happily married and financially secure, the result of following his father’s guidance that success in America is assured to those who play by the rules and work hard. The irony reveals itself as Harold’s life begins to fall apart through no fault of his own, except for his associations with people who turn out to be terrible. When Harold’s accountant tells him how broke he is, he warns him of the people in his life, including Harold’s friend-turned-corporate-boss Richard (Joel Edgerton). “Richard would never do that to me,” Harold suggests, rebutting against the suggestion of his layoff. His accountant tells a short story of a woman who raised a bear, only to be surprised when the bear eventually attacked her. “It’s a bear,” his accountant warns. That’s what bears do.

The early scene sets the comedic tone for Harold’s naiveté and the outcomes that come from it. In some regard, Gringo is partially what you think it is: a gul…