Review: Dead-end Netflix comedy 'Desperados' is a drag

In the bawdy bomb "Desperados," there's a feline whose facial features resemble a certain German dictator, a graphic gag about a horny sea creature and a running joke that involves the lead character being repeatedly mistaken for a pedophile. 

Stop me when any of this sounds funny. 

It's not, and neither is "Desperados," a dead end comedy with a sense of humor that feels like it was trucked in from 1998. 

That's when it's plot line is from, as it liberally cribs its structure from "Overnight Delivery," in which a jilted lover sends an angry letter to a significant other and then tries to stop it from reaching its recipient.

Here that jilted lover is Wesley (former "SNL" cast member Nasim Pedrad), an unlucky-in-love Los Angeleno who meets the guy of her dreams in Jared (Robbie Amell). After not hearing from him for a few days she and her gal pals Brooke (Anna Camp) and Kaylie (Sarah Burns) decide to fire an angry email his way, only to then learn he's been in a coma in Mexico, hence his silence. So they pack their bags for a girls trip and head down to Mexico to intercept the email before he opens it, which is definitely something that's normal and rational and we've all probably done at some point or another, am I right everybody? 

A series of painful set pieces and strained life lessons follow, as "Desperados" can count neither on the flat chemistry of its cast nor any sense of relatability to carry it over its minefield of friendship and relationship clichés.

Writer Ellen Rapoport and director LP want to prove a female-led comedy can be just as off-color as one starring men, a notion that's been proven time and again over the years. ("Bridesmaids" anyone?) "Desperados" is just plain desperate. 

agraham@detroitnews.com

@grahamorama

'Desperados'

GRADE: D

Rated TV-MA: For language, sexuality

Running time: 106 minutes

On Netflix