Harold is unassuming and friendly middle management in a pharmaceutical company. A business trip to Mexico sees him caught up in kidnapping, drug cartels, personal betrayal, and constant danger - most of which he is very much the target and victim of.
Mostly this film is very enjoyable, although once it is finished I think it started to fade pretty quickly and it didn't leave as much of a mark as the viewing experience had suggested. This lack of real grit and meat is a problem as it doesn't satisfy, but the film does have enough energy and momentum to cover it for the most part. Harold is thrown from one mess into another, with constant twists and turns moving him around and keeping the landscape fluid. This in itself is quite entertaining and enjoyable as it goes, but it is only on a 'distracting' level. For me this was fine as it made for a decent Saturday night watch, but that was all.
The problem is that it doesn't do anything well enough. It is a comedy but it isn't funny enough or consistently enough. The other problem is that the action doesn't engage in a solid way - it does it by constant movement and being shiny. There is a dark comedy here, but it falls short of that, and while it is still quite funny, and quite enjoyable, it needed to do more. Part of the reason it really needed to do more is that so many of the cast are worthy of more. Oyelowo is worth seeing and he does comedy very well with his Nigerian character, but mostly the rest of the cast have more impact by being recognizable than being really well used.
So, it is a comedy that lives in the moment and needs energy and pace to get it by - but even with these it is not sharp or funny enough, even if the events of any moment are distracting and quite entertaining.
Mostly this film is very enjoyable, although once it is finished I think it started to fade pretty quickly and it didn't leave as much of a mark as the viewing experience had suggested. This lack of real grit and meat is a problem as it doesn't satisfy, but the film does have enough energy and momentum to cover it for the most part. Harold is thrown from one mess into another, with constant twists and turns moving him around and keeping the landscape fluid. This in itself is quite entertaining and enjoyable as it goes, but it is only on a 'distracting' level. For me this was fine as it made for a decent Saturday night watch, but that was all.
The problem is that it doesn't do anything well enough. It is a comedy but it isn't funny enough or consistently enough. The other problem is that the action doesn't engage in a solid way - it does it by constant movement and being shiny. There is a dark comedy here, but it falls short of that, and while it is still quite funny, and quite enjoyable, it needed to do more. Part of the reason it really needed to do more is that so many of the cast are worthy of more. Oyelowo is worth seeing and he does comedy very well with his Nigerian character, but mostly the rest of the cast have more impact by being recognizable than being really well used.
So, it is a comedy that lives in the moment and needs energy and pace to get it by - but even with these it is not sharp or funny enough, even if the events of any moment are distracting and quite entertaining.