Summary
Non Negotiable is a forgettable action-comedy, nothing else.
Alan Binder is a highly skilled hostage negotiator in Non Negotiable who soon finds himself negotiating for the release of the Mexican President. But his personal life, which overlaps his blatant skills at dealing with criminals, is extremely rocky. His marriage with Victoria is to the point that divorce is looking likely.
And so, the Mexican Netflix movie mixes action with thrills and comedy as Alan attempts to save his marriage while saving the President of his country—a scenario that I imagine most men would not like to be in.
The premise is OK, to be fair; I found it quite funny. Especially when it’s heavily implied that Alan’s wife has been sleeping with her personal trainer. His wife is also highly unusual: she expects her husband not to answer the call when a hostage situation arises when it’s literally his job. His life is “on-call” always as he’s the best negotiator in the country. So watching Alan having to take an important call, like the rescue of the President of Mexico, while his wife scoffs at him in therapy is funnier than it was intended.
“Non Negotiable” is an ironic title in itself because Alan is slick at providing them when it involves potential civilian deaths, but he does not know how to deal with them when it comes to his marriage. I get the point about relationships: men understand how to commit their promises in day-to-day work but fail to connect emotionally to heal gaps in their personal lives. I think that’s the irony in the writing, but maybe I’m reading far too much into a surface-level comedy.
Speaking of comedy: Non Negotiable is pretty straightforward. The jokes are not complex or imaginative. I’m not sure what the gags are. It all feels scenario-based, as in, it’s just funny that Alan Binder finds himself in this situation. But at the same time, it’s serious too. Movies that cannot find a fine line between comedy and drama in a way that assumes logic are infuriating at the best of times. And this movie fits into that box, but luckily, I didn’t care enough to be irritated by it.
Once the story reaches the hostage situation, the Mexican film becomes popcorn fodder. There’s no sense of tension or anticipation—it’s just pure brain stimulation. It could be argued that there are themes of political hypocrisies and relationship drama, but the movie skims over them like a substandard ride at Disneyland.
However, if you require a 90-minute, easy-to-watch action comedy, then I suppose this passes the bar. It’s a Netflix film, after all.
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