How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Director: Adrian Grunberg
Starring: Mel Gibson, Peter Stormare, Dean Norris
Time Out rating:
Japanese title: Kick Over

Following the unsurprising nosedive of his last-ditch shot at sympathy and redemption, The Beaver, it seems Mel Gibson has decided to accept his position as hate figure No 1 and, if possible, turn it to his advantage. The tale of an American crook (Gibson) who ends up in a Mexican jail, How I Spent My Summer Vacation is ugly, misanthropic and filled with racist stereotypes. It’s also superbly constructed, pithily scripted and absurdly entertaining. When Gibson’s gringo – who remains unnamed for much of the movie – is shipped off to El Pueblito, he finds a world of junkies, hookers and psychotic gangsters from which there is supposedly no escape. Pairing up with a plucky kid (Kevin Hernandez) with a dark secret, he proceeds to turn this third-world hellscape upside down. There’s no escaping the fact that this is a nasty, vicious little film – the climax is startlingly unpleasant. But with its sharp dialogue, beautifully streamlined story and fistful of surprises, the Mel haters are going to have to find another brickbat for now.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation opens at select cinemas nationwide on October 13