Cómplices is another production presented by Pantelion Films, the company owned by Lionsgate and Mexico’s Televisa. Unlike Pantelion’s bilingual How to Be a Latin Lover, Luis Eduardo Reyes’ Cómplices is not really targeting the latino audience in the United States, as it was mostly filmed in Dominican Republic with local actors, even if the main cast is entirely Mexican.
As an opportunity to promote tourism to said Caribbean country, the movie quickly establishes a beach vacation as its scenario, when the main character, a Mexican casanova in his forties (Arath de la Torre), decides that it’s time for another of his typical hunts for the hottest women in the world.
The conflict, though, comes from the fact that due to his sickness, the protagonist’s best friend and usual accomplice can’t join him in this journey for beautiful Dominican girls. In consequence, the master seducer takes his new protegé to the Caribbean: his young and geeky nephew (Jesús Zavala), who is depressed after his girlfriend cheated on him and who, obviously, doesn’t know anything at all about the art of seduction.
We know by memory this type of protagonist and setting, as we’ve seen Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper taking care of his brother’s nerdy son, or Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker as a son-like figure. Hell, even at one point in How to Be a Latin Lover, Eugenio Derbez must pass on his ability to seduce the opposite sex to his innocent little nephew; therefore it’s safe to say that Cómplices isn’t even trying, in any way, shape or form, to bring something fresh to the comedy or romance film.
The fact that the “cool", heart of stone casanova ends revealing himself as a broken soul - who once had a true love but didn’t work out - doesn’t strike as a surprise either. This is, certainly, formulaic filmmaking that is destined to do OK at the box office, but that will hardly remain in my memory by the time 2018 is over.
Watching Arath de la Torre’s character running into his ex girlfriend (Marina de Tavira) - right there at the Dominican hotel and for a reason later revealed as part of someone else’s masterplan, because why not? - and eventually redeeming himself and changing his superficial, macho lifestyle, while his nephew learns his own lesson as well, is not really as baffling as other recent Mexican mainstream efforts, but, quite simply, previsible, harmless and unremarkable.