Reviews

Certainly, a story premise that has not been done dozens of times before...so kudos for the idea and kudos for the acting.... MM, GO and KB all do well despite limited meaningful lines to deliver. These are the 3 'serious' acting roles.....everybody else have cornball roles to play, so even if they do reasonably well with their character, nonetheless the serious story takes a backseat in elapsed screen time for relatively unimportant or cheesy, lowbrow humor scenes. The writer(s) should have used that wasted time to develop more of why McConaughey's character is ultimately flawed, more on how MM's and KB's marriage just falls apart after the birth, why KB just automatically writes MM off as a partner and a father going forward and falls for GO's little person character, both as a father....and a lover? I prefer movies that introduce and then develop characters' backstory from which a logical new story flows....in this instance, it feels like the main characters were just inserted into a pre-ordained outcome and you're left 'guessing' as to why that outcome is logical. If you want to be increasingly unsatisfied as the screenplay roles out, be sure to add this movie to your watchlist.

The characters are entertaining, although sometimes cartoonishly so. The storyline premise is believable in principle, but it's ruined by script writers' lack of knowledge how the real world works. For one example, what United States IRS agent gets to jaunt around on the government dime chasing a foreign national on some wild-a*s hunch (and complete lack of knowledge of income tax law) he owes U.S. income tax? C'mon! And at least have him and his cohorts speak English in the Miami office and dub in for the Latin audience. At least have him chased around by the SEC/FBI for possible insider trading and stock price manipulation, not the IRS and one local cop, neither of whom have any chance of working together on a real world case and neither of whom would have any jurisdictional reason to give to their superiors. Second example, how does Tashco find out everyplace Miguel is going to be in and around Mexico and manages to get there ahead of time ready to shoot him? Third, what tech-savvy crime lord doesn't have security cameras in his house?

I am halfway through season 1, I will stick with it because it is entertaining and I like the protagonist crime boss using brain, not brawn (mostly) and the females are mostly easy on the eyes.....however, I will cringe mightily every time the script travels beyond the city limits of Cuidad Jimenez and basic drug trafficking business.