Desperados is a 2020 American comedy film directed by LP, from a screenplay by Ellen Rapoport. It stars Nasim Pedrad, Lamorne Morris, Robbie Amell, Anna Camp, Heather Graham and Sarah Burns, and follows a group of friends who travel to Mexico in an effort to delete an email one of them sent to their boyfriend. The film was released on July 3, 2020, by Netflix, and received generally negative reviews from critics, who called it "predictable unfunny".
Plot
Wesley is struggling to find a job and a partner and desperately wants to settle down in life. She goes on a date with a man named Sean. However, Sean ends the date abruptly when she mentions marriage and kids too frequently. Immediately after that, she slips, falls down, and meets a charming man named Jared. Jared seems like the perfect guy and Wesley starts to hide her true self in order to make the relationship work. After Jared and Wesley finally have sex, the former does not contact her for a few days. Upset, Wesley gets drunk with her two best friends and the trio write a long and insulting email to him. However, Jared calls Wes after that to inform her that he had gotten into a car accident in Mexico, without having checked the email. To save her relationship, Wesley decides to go to Jared’s hotel in Mexico, sneak into his room and delete the email. She takes her friends, Brooke and Kaylie along. Coincidentally, Sean is at the same hotel. Wesley gets thrown out of the hotel due to a few mishaps. However, she tries to break in again, gets caught, and is jailed. After her release, Sean comes to pick her up. Wesley decides to meet Jared at the Mexican airport and fly back with him. She plans on deleting the email on the flight. Sean agrees to drive her to the airport. On the way, Sean tells Wesley that she had been his first and only date after the death of his wife. He had ended the date because it had gotten too real too fast. The two bond over the drive. On the plane, Wes tells Jared about the email and comes clean to him. However, Jared breaks up with her since she had been hiding her true self. After that, Wes ends up fighting with her friends since they feel neglected by her. Back home, Wes finds a job due to Sean’s recommendation. Then, she apologizes to her friends and they forgive her. Wesley goes to Sean, who is at the restaurant where they had gone on a date, to ask him out. However, Sean is on a date with another girl. Yet, he agrees to date Wesley and the two kiss on the street. The other girl walks past them, complaining to her mother about her terrible date.
In November 2009, it was announced Universal Pictures had acquired distribution rights to the film, with Isla Fisher attached to star, with Ellen Rapoport writing the script. Mark Gordon and Jason Blum would serve as producers on the film. In March 2019, it was announced Anna Camp, Robbie Amell and Jason Mitchell had joined the cast of the film, with LP directing, John Finemore and Mason Novick producing under their MXN Entertainment and Lost City banners, respectively, with Gordon and Blum no longer attached and Netflix distributing. In May 2019, it was announced Jason Mitchell had been fired following sexual misconduct allegations and investigation conducted by Good Universe and Netflix, and was replaced by Lamorne Morris. That same month, it was announced Heather Graham and Sarah Burns had joined the cast of the film.
Desperados was released on Netflix on July 3, 2020. In its first weekend it was the second-most streamed film on the site, then third-most in its second weekend.
Reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 15% based on 33 reviews, with an average rating of 3.66/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Dumb, dated, desperate, and downright disappointing, Desperados squanders Nasim Pedrad's talents on gross-out gags that all too rarely land." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 43 out of 100, based on eight reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
