Mel Gibson Stars in Mediocre ‘Get the Gringo’

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Average: 3.4 (19 votes)
HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 2.0/5.0
Rating: 2.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Originally titled “How I Spent My Summer Vacation,” Mel Gibson’s latest star vehicle is taking an unusual road to your viewing pleasure, bypassing theatrical release and even skipping Blu-ray/DVD for a debut this week on DirecTV On Demand. Is this the new delivery system of the future? The new way to watch movies that, for whatever reason, couldn’t make it to the multiplex? It’s too soon to tell but a technology like this is going to need a surprisingly-good flick to draw viewers to it. “Get the Gringo” is not a surprising flick in any way, unless you find mediocrity surprising.

“Get the Gringo” has a tone that’s notably reminiscent of Elmore Leonard in the way that the man who created Chili Palmer and Raylan Givens has an amazing gift at making lowlifes and their unique situations cool, entertaining, and genuine. The script by Mel Gibson, Adrian Grunberg (who also directs), & Stacy Perskie shoots for this world of the smooth, suave anti-hero but the dialogue isn’t smart enough to maintain it and Gibson is miscast, having lost some of his once-notable leading man charisma. To be blunt, I never gave a damn about anything that was going on in “Get the Gringo,” remaining more interested in how Icon and Gibson were trying to get their latest film to the people than being drawn into the story itself.

Get the Gringo
Get the Gringo
Photo credit: Fox

Said story opens with Driver (Gibson) in a clown costume on a getaway chase near the Mexican border. As agents chase him across the barren plain by the fence separating the country, Driver sees a mound of dirt that he decides to use to try to jump the partition. It doesn’t quite work and he ends up crashing through the wall where the corrupt Mexican authorities, noticing that his car is filled with cash, grab Driver and throw him in jail. Although this isn’t your ordinary jail.

Driver finds himself in what is essentially a ghetto with families, a power structure, corruption, drugs, sex, and violence. In “El Pueblito,” Driver befriends a 10-year-old boy (David Hernandez) with a unique problem. The ghetto crime lord who rules over the people in this prison more than the warden has a unique kidney disease that’s going to kill him if he can’t get a transplant. He also has a unique blood type and the only match is Driver’s new precocious partner. Will the career criminal challenge his own moral code by helping someone other than himself? Will he take down the prison power structure at the same time?

Get the Gringo
Get the Gringo
Photo credit: Fox

It’s easy to see what drew Gibson to this directorial debut for his Assistant Director on “Apocalypto” – it’s the kind of piece that could have been a gritty black comedy in the right hands and there are glimpses of the movie that “Get the Gringo” should have been. Some of the more elaborate machinations of the final act (which gets Peter Stormare and Bob Gunton involved) are interesting and the movie never falters enough that anyone could call it boring. It’s more one of those pieces that’s just not quite right tonally. You can’t always put your finger on it but you can feel it. You know that the line delivery isn’t right; that the shaky cinematography wasn’t the right call; that even the score feels off and so on and so on. It’s the details that separate a film like “Get the Gringo” from what it could have been.

I also find it interesting that Gibson would take such an anti-hero role at this controversial point in his career. His work in last year’s “The Beaver” was some of the best of his career, but taking such an angry character at this point in his real-life drama might have been ill-advised. Of course, it wouldn’t be that big of a problem if Gibson was simply more believable in the role. His heart doesn’t seem to be in it.

And I can’t really blame him. “Get the Gringo” is one of those odd dark comedies that is simply too easy to forget. It doesn’t matter where you watch it – theaters, Blu-ray, NetFlix, Hulu, or On Demand – it doesn’t matter if the movie’s not worth your time.

“Get the Gringo” stars Mel Gibson and Kevin Hernandez. It was directed by Adrian Grunberg. It is available exclusively on DirecTV On Demand for $9.99 starting on May 1, 2012. It is rated R.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

JimH's picture

A review of Mel

An admitted review of Mel and not the film. Gibson’s performance in THE BEAVER was astounding in an otherwise contrived and fumbled execution of an interesting concept.

Gibson took an anti-hero role because those are the roles he reigned supreme at playing. Whether it was Mad Max, Martin Riggs, Porter, etc. Gibson is playing to his strengths here with edge and wit. The accusation that he has lost his charisma as a leading man is only a personal bias brought by the reviewer due to Gibson’s recent personal troubles, and if the best criticism of the film itself can only be articulated as “I didn’t care” or “it’s tone doesn’t work,” that’s lackadaisical film journalism.

Briana W. 's picture

I loved the film and agree

I loved the film and agree with you wholeheartedly on your analysis on the review. I never take these bloggers too seriously unless they show some real ability to write.

JimH's picture

Great Film

I don’t read false self-appointed “critics” either, but as a devoted Gibson fan, I want to see Gibson get the credit he is due. He has always been an extremely talented individual who has continually produced great quality work. GET THE GRINGO is no exception, and it upsets me greatly to see its Rotten Tomatoes score go down because some wannabe critic cannot articulate anything further than “I didn’t care about the story” or “the tone didn’t work.” If a critic did not like a movie, but he/she is capable of intelligently articulating the many elements of filmmaking (score, cinematography, theme, performance, etc) that they felt did not successfully add up to a worthwhile or satisfying film, then I would respect the critic’s opinion, even if I disagreed with it. But when their “review” is something just as impressive as a two-second message board post (“it blew chunks yo!), and then goes on to judge the film based more on the outside elements surrounding it—be it the tabloid exploits of its star’s personal life or the film’s strange distribution plan—rather than the film itself, it is infuriating. A film should be judged solely on its own quality and nothing more. Is a Roman Polanski or Woody Allen film judged in a different way because of its makers’ pasts? Is the greatness of JAWS challenged because it was the first film to be released wide across the country?

It’s a travesty that this is counted in Rotten Tomatoes’ tally of legitimate critics, especially when a daring and well-made film such as GET THE GRINGO relies so heavily on word-of-mouth. Regardless, the film will find its audience. In this internet and home entertainment age, every worthwhile film eventually finds its audience.

But this is not film journalism, this is just self-important masturbation.

X X's picture

Stop hating on Mel Gibson

Stop hating on Mel Gibson. This movie was amazing on many different levels. You don’t have to feel like you’re supporting Mel by seeing this movie. This is just a great movie and more worthy of your 2 hours of time than every movie out in the theaters, including The Avengers.

Anonv's picture

The movie is really good.

The movie is really good.

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