"Should we show them the difference beteeen the Narcos TV show and real life?" Reda (Ramzy Bedia) asks his supporters in an opening scene of Medellín on Prime Video, director, writer and co-star Franck Gastambide's cartel comedy about a mix-up between "three very ordinary suburban guys" and Colombia's top illegal drug organization.
The stench of Pablo Escobar wafts through the film with references to the Escobar district in Medellín and the Escobar suite at the hotel where the three amigos start their adventure after learning that Reda's younger brother Brahim (Brahim Bouhlel) had been kidnapped by the the cartel for impersonating Escobar (he calls himself "Pablito").
Reda's joined by his friends Sam (Frenchman Gastambide) and Chafix (Anouar Toubali), who immediately get into it with El Diablo (Raymond Cruz), and his army of assassins. They manage to elude the barrage of machine-gun fire (Sam jokes, "Lucky these assholes don't know how to shoot"), and with the help of police officer Marissa (Essined Aponte) and a top-secret U.S. government specialist played by Mike Tyson, free Brahim from the clutches of the viscous drug gang.
The trio indulge at a coke party when they arrive in the South American country known for cannabis and coca. During one of the movie's many exciting chase scenes, they race through a warehouse where cocaine is being manufactured with bales of white powder lining the walls.
Tyson as Robbie is surprisingly good in what's a real role, with the ex-champ not playing himself in his hideout (though he does hit a punching bag).
Medellín richocets from humorous to dark and there's even a love interest. Clearly, three bumbling Americans could never take on a murderous cartel, but it's still fun watching a movie about just that.
Medellín is free for Amazon subscribers
