Film trailer of the week: Get The Gringo

Published on Thursday 2 February 2012 17:06

Mel Gibson stars in an arch attempt at meta-redemption as he plays a loveable criminal

What is it?

A new comedy action movie starring Mel Gibson as a loveable criminal on the run to Mexico, where he gets into scrapes with local gangsters. Sorry, what year is this? 1987?

Quite. It’s a bold move for a man now mostly associated in people’s minds with domestic abuse and anti-Semitism to go back to playing loveable bad boys. The trailer, however, has a plan to win us over - it opens with a weary Mel saying “Dear Mum, I’ve been under a lot of stress at work”, and largely consists of footage of Mel being beaten up. The movie’s title change (it used to be called How I Spent My Summer Vacation) seems like part of the same marketing strategy.

So, we should go and see the film on the grounds that we get to see Mel Gibson being physically hurt?

Something like that. Interestingly, while it’s getting a cinema release in the UK, it won’t in the US – it’ll be available as a pay for download instead, from DirecTV.

When is it out here?

11 May.