Mariachi gringo

Sunny, good-natured yet inescapably middling ...

A road trip movie filled with simple pleasures. Ashmore does a solid job as a mariachi musician without a single grenade-launcher in his guitar case.

As the moving concluding scenes cement, "Mariachi Gringo" is right on pitch - and, happily, not simply as you'd expect.

Amid this malarkey Gustafson is smart enough to let the camera linger on musical performances that reveal mariachi to be dynamic and complex as opera.

While the premise feels a bit thin and the overall progress never strays far from fish-out-of-water formula, the execution is consistently ingratiating, even when it frustrates by raising ideas that go undeveloped.

Exceedingly irritating

Unfortunately, thanks to barely sketched, predictable characters, it's an opportunity wasted.