'Gringo' Trailer: David Oyelowo And Charlize Theron Blaze A Trail Across Mexico

Titling your movie after a slur is always a gamble, but casting award-winning actors in your marijuana black comedy may be even more so.

Gringo stars David Oyelowo in his most broad comedic performance yet, playing a mild-mannered businessman who is tasked with delivering a formula for a new weed pill to a lab in Mexico. But because of the shady dealings of his superiors, played by Charlize Theron and Joel Edgerton, he gets kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel and finds himself tangled in a web of drug conspiracies, mercenaries, and the DEA — and hey, isn't that Sharlto Copley? But this is a comedy, so Oyelowo has to scream hysterically the entire time.

Note that this is a red band trailer, so consider not watching it at work.

I'm wholly confused by the tone that director Nash Edgerton's Gringo is trying to nail (at least in this trailer). Is it a broad comedy or is it a satirical black comedy? And what about that roster of talented actors? Everything about the Amazon Studios film seems too over-the-top to fit that "black comedy" label it keeps striving for, especially with Theron vamping her way through the proceedings.

It is nice to see Oyelowo shed his dramatic persona to try to stretch his comedy chops, but I'm mostly unimpressed by his flailing in the trailer. Shartlo Copley feels like the one piece that fits, with his unhinged persona blending in nicely with the off-the-rails tone of Gringo.

Gringo also stars Amanda Seyfried, Yul Vazquez, Thandie Newton, and is set to hit theaters on March 9, 2018.

Here is the official synopsis for Gringo:

An exhilarating mix of dark comedy, white-knuckle action and dramatic intrigue, Gringo joyrides into Mexico, where mild-mannered businessman Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo) finds himself at the mercy of his back-stabbing business colleagues back home, local drug lords and a morally conflicted black-ops mercenary. Crossing the line from law-abiding citizen to wanted criminal, Harold battles to survive his increasingly dangerous situation in ways that raise the question: Is he out of his depth — or two steps ahead?