Gringo is a comedy film directed by Nash Edgerton starring David Oyelowo, Charlize Theron, Joel Edgerton, Amanda Seyfried, Thandie Newton and Sharlto Copley. The story follows Harold Soyinka, a mild-mannered businessman who gets caught up in a kidnapping scheme with a Mexican drug cartel due to his company’s experimental new marijuana pill. After learning of Harold’s predicament his boss, Rich, sends his mercenary brother, Mitch, to Mexico to extract him and return him home. For his first full-length film, director Nash Edgerton does a decent job. He manages to give each of the characters a decent amount of screentime and depth to allow us to understand the type of people they are. David Oyelowo is hilarious as Harold Soyinka. Harold is the type of guy who does everything right but never gets ahead. Oyelowo plays him as very high spirited and kind. It’s easy for the audience to relate to Harold as he embodies the life of much of the working class. Harold’s interactions with Mitch are the funniest in the film. Charlize Theron is great as Elaine. She is always out for her own well-being but displays some moments of vulnerability and emotion. Theron portrays Elaine as… for lack of a better word… a bitch. She can be very rude and aggressive towards people. She also manages some quite comedic scenes due to her edgier personality. Joel Edgerton does well as Rich. Just like Elaine, he is only out for himself, does things for his own personal gain, and is two-faced. Sharlto Copley is the standout as Mitch. Copley brings a lot of fun and enthusiasm to the character. His interaction with Harold is great and should have been in more of the film. The story is fun and has many twists and turns throughout. You think things are going to go a certain way, yet they continuously change. This does bring up issues towards the end of the film as certain characters are built up and then killed off. There is also a storyline with Amanda Seyfried’s character Sunny and her boyfriend that adds very little to the film and could have easily been removed without affecting the story. Also, certain events are ignored at the end making it more of a mess because some characters get in trouble while others get off scot-free. I give Gringo a Normal 6/10. It’s a fun comedy with good performances and a decent story that falls apart during the climax.