Gringo
STX Entertainment | Release Date: March 9, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
17
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)Mar 12, 2018
A pitch-black, often very funny slice of pulp fiction with a number of stand-out performances, notably the ferocious Theron. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyMar 9, 2018
A largely fun watch, a corporate crime tale of consistent tartness enacted by a superb cast. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 8, 2018
With a movie like this, either you’ll tap out after 15 minutes or you’ll settle in for an evening of popcorn and beverage-of-your choice escapism. Read full review
75
UproxxEmma StefanskyMar 8, 2018
It’s an especially fun dark comedy from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose. Read full review
70
Paste MagazineOktay Ege Kozak Mar 9, 2018
It’s the central performance by Oyelowo, who allows us to laugh at Harold’s naiveté and tomfoolery with some well-placed broad comedy choices while never dropping the ball on the character’s relatability, that makes Gringo a worthy watch for genre fans. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaMar 8, 2018
Gringo is a slightly above-average crime farce with a way above-average protagonist — both in terms of writing and performance, and especially given the genre. It’s a surprising high point in Oyelowo’s already distinguished career. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisMar 14, 2018
The movie has a floppy vibe to it, teetering on lazy farce in its mixed marriage of dry humor and flashes of violence. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrMar 8, 2018
It’s a twisty dark comedy in the action-suspense vein, piled high with talented actors playing cretinous fools and featuring enough betrayals, mistaken identities, and narrative switchbacks to keep you pleasurably befuddled. Read full review
60
Total FilmJames MottramMar 8, 2018
A fun romp with a great comic performance from Oyelowo. Doesn’t linger, but you’ll enjoy it while it lasts. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Mar 8, 2018
Solid chunks of the screwball humor land like bricks, and the characters — most of them idiots, a**holes, or suckers — are colorfully over-the-top but not especially memorable. Read full review
58
IndieWireKate ErblandMar 8, 2018
Aussie director Nash Edgerton loads up on some of his signatures, including lots of bad guys, tons of twists, and a dark sense of humor. Unfortunately, his sensibilities are dulled by a sprawling story that never quite snaps together. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 9, 2018
The narrative contains some clever moments but the resolution somehow feels like a cop-out, perhaps because we’ve seen it so many times before. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneDavid FearMar 9, 2018
It can't decide whether it wants to be magnificently toxic or merely mediocre. Mileage may vary on where the movie eventually lands, but either way, this is a "romp" that's keen on going nowhere ... and sloooowly. Read full review
50
The Film StageJared MobarakMar 9, 2018
Watching bad people be bad gets tiring, especially when there’s someone like Oyelowo transcending the material to lend complexity and uncertainty. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 8, 2018
The pleasures of Gringo are the pleasures of genre: It’s a fun type of movie, but it’s not a good version of the type. Read full review
50
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonMar 8, 2018
Gringo’s obvious debt to the works of Tarantino and the Coen brothers give it a tone that’s too arch and haphazard to keep the audience rooted in its characters. The movie’s sense of humor is about twenty years too old, manifesting in glib jabs at other characters’ expense for being fat, or mentally challenged, or poorly-endowed. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonMar 8, 2018
Director Nash Edgerton never really sinks his teeth into the delectable darkness of his hero’s nemeses, struggling to maintain the right acidic tone. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeMar 8, 2018
There’s an old-school, B-movie snap to much of the proceedings, which Nash Edgerton modernizes without imposing too flashy a style upon the material. It’s pulp, plain and simple, delivering on the chance to watch depraved characters navigate unseemly situations. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMar 8, 2018
A sometimes amusing, sometimes draggy and overstuffed affair that always relies on its talent-rich cast to carry the day. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMar 8, 2018
While the fish-out-of-water caper is stuffed with whiplash turns and colorfully eccentric lowlife characters, it never adds up to much. It’s so busy you might think there’s more to it than they’re really is. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 8, 2018
Gringo dabbles in several genres, none particularly well. Read full review
40
IGNWilliam BibbianiMar 8, 2018
It’s neither funny nor exciting enough to obscure what a miasma of unfocused randomness it is, even though the cast is clearly trying to make something out of all this half-baked material. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMar 8, 2018
Mr. Oyelowo is without a doubt the best thing in Gringo, supplying the only grace notes in a cacophony of secondhand attitude and facetious overacting. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyMar 8, 2018
The movie achieves a take-it-or-leave-it watchability without being much to look at, and as a nominal thrill ride, it’s underpowered. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 8, 2018
The film periodically livens up, and Oyelowo shows that he can play comedy, but his performance isn’t given much guidance or room to grow and the direction is very flat and uninspired. Read full review
38
The Associated PressLindsey BahrMar 8, 2018
Oyelowo is the one who comes off without a scratch and actually has some quite amusing moments (he has a great, high-pitched scream and solid comedic timing). If only the movie was a better showcase. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDerek SmithMar 8, 2018
The circuitous narrative of Nash Edgerton's Gringo is such that it never allows for a character or storyline to develop in a particularly efficient way, as every few minutes an abrupt twist or turn sets things off in a new and unexpected direction. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshMar 8, 2018
Everything about Gringo, from the storytelling to the comedy to the cinematography is incredibly lackluster. The film is dark and dim, like everything's covered in a layer of dust. Oyelowo is quite endearing and funny as Harold, but he's given very little to work with. Read full review
30
TheWrapRobert AbeleMar 8, 2018
This wildly uneven mix of nasty and nervy...is primarily a time-waster, trotting out clichéd misadventure tropes and predictable zigzags in a manner neither terribly funny nor suspenseful. Read full review
25
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezMar 10, 2018
Featuring a fittingly shallow funk-lite score by Christophe Beck, Gringo, is ultimately like a Taco Bell version of the ‘90s crime genre; tasteless, cheaply made and just as inauthentic. Read full review
25
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenMar 8, 2018
Gringo has no spark, no fizz. Its scenes sag like overstretched taffy. Flavorless taffy. Read full review
25
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 8, 2018
Absolutely nothing about Gringo works. Well, maybe one decent car crash pays off. The performances, situations, dialogue and story beats are just flung at the screen in the vain hope that something sticks...Nothing does. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzMar 8, 2018
If someone somehow convinced somebody somewhere to turn the screenplay for Gringo into a real-life motion picture with real-deal actors, then, hell, it could happen to anyone. Read full review
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