Luis Gerardo Méndez
Mariano Silverstein
Overview
A psychoanalyst on community service aids an agent shattered by infidelity; together, they will confront danger and discover second chances.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
3 min readThe Couch and the Crossfire
A psychoanalyst riding around in a police cruiser is a ridiculous premise on paper. Then again, buddy-cop movies have survived on less. Ariel Winograd's A Time for Bravery takes that mismatch—therapist and armed cop, neurosis and stoicism—and drops it into the bright, chaotic sprawl of Mexico City.
I was skeptical at first. Damián Szifron's Tiempo de valientes is beloved for a reason, and remaking it can feel a lot like fiddling with a machine that already works. But Winograd, an Argentine filmmaker who has settled comfortably into Mexican cinema, keeps most of the gears turning, even when they grind a little.
The plot is simple enough to get the engine started. Mariano Silverstein (Luis Gerardo Méndez), a tightly coiled therapist, causes a car accident and is sentenced to community service. That service means spending time with Alfredo Díaz (Memo Villegas), a police detective reeling from the discovery that his wife has been cheating on him.
Díaz is armed, despondent, and behaving like a man with very little left to lose. Disaster feels inevitable. From there the film veers into corruption, stolen uranium, and dead former soldiers.
How much you care about that conspiracy will probably depend on your tolerance for genre clutter. I stopped keeping careful track of the villains' precise motives somewhere around the midway point, and the truth is the movie doesn't really need me to.
Audience Opinions
Audience 6.4/10
"A lively Mexican buddy-cop caper driven by sharp chemistry and easy laughs, held back by safe plotting and a few clumsy choices."
The odd-couple pairing of a neurotic psychoanalyst and a volatile cop lands well, with several comments praising believable acting, strong rapport, and a fun mix of comedy, thriller elements, and late-film action. The script’s witty, slangy dialogue and local absurdist humor resonate, and many describe it as an easy, entertaining watch that even works well with subtitles. Others find it lightweight and lacking substance, criticize it for feeling like a tame remake, and point to uneven pacing, underused action, an overdone accent, and thin gender representation.
What viewers praise
- Engaging lead duo The relationship between the psychoanalyst and the inspector is seen as credible, warm, and central to the film’s appeal.
- Good comedic tone Jokes and banter land well for many, with a distinctly Mexican, slightly absurd flavor that keeps the story amusing.
- Entertaining and easy to watch Viewers describe it as a light, fun crime-comedy that works well as a relaxed evening or weekend watch, including with subtitles.
- Satisfying final act The last stretch delivers more intense action and emotional payoff, with some hoping for a sequel after the ending.
Common complaints
- Lightweight story Several reactions describe the plot as lacking depth or substance, playing more as disposable entertainment than a standout film.
- Safe remake approach Those who know the original see this version as respectful but too cautious, without a strong new angle on the material.
- Uneven structure Pacing and action distribution draw criticism, with long stretches of setup and most of the big set pieces pushed to the end.
- Representation and accent issues Comments call out an almost all-male cast and note that one character’s accent feels exaggerated or distracting rather than natural.
Recommended for
Buddy-cop comedy fans Luis Gerardo Méndez followers Light crime caper seekers Mexican action-comedy lovers Streaming night crowd
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsThe extra playing dead started drowning in the rain
Ariel Winograd wanted a storm in Xochimilco and he wanted it in one take. They dumped water instead of wasting a rehearsal. The camera went blind. One of the bodies on the ground started shouting to stop. The extra was choking. They cut the rain and later patched the shot with visual effects. Memo Villegas told Infobae it was not that funny for the guy on the ground. 
That is the gossip worth printing from Netflix's Mexican buddy comedy A Time for Bravery, the 2025 remake of Damian Szifron's 2005 Argentine hit Tiempo de valientes. Do not mix it up with Antonio Mercero's 1998 Spanish film that shares the Spanish title. This one is Luis Gerardo Mendez as psychoanalyst Mariano Silverstein and Villegas as inspector Diaz, shot entirely in Mexico for a December 19, 2025 Netflix drop. , ,
Szifron watched the cut and stayed friends.
Winograd is Argentine, a friend of Szifron, and he told Infobae he took the job with "no fear, always." He told La Nacion that viewers who never saw the original will get a new movie, and that fans will catch winks plus "another film." He said Szifron made himself available, imposed nothing, saw the final cut, and left "very good comments." The names stayed. Silverstein still does community service after a car accident. Diaz still sits wrecked by his wife's affair. The patrol car is still the office. Charlie Barrientos rewrote the slang into Mexican Spanish. Runtime matches the original at one hour and 46 minutes. [1], [2]
K&S Films, the shop behind the 2005 picture, produced again, with Hugo Sigman and Matias Mosteirin on the slate. Winograd told The Hollywood Reporter, quoted by El Financiero, that the team "were very clear we should not imitate or copy." Mendez called it "a love story between two unexpected friends, a bromance, that also talks a lot about the importance of going to therapy." He told Infobae the story "had to feel in the streets of Mexico, it had to be ours." Locations run from Coyoacan, where Silverstein lives among the Jewish community Winograd asked Mendez to study, to Tepito. [1], [3],
Pigeons, a harness, and a three-floor drop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkL04jXMSFE
Mendez told PRODU he has a panic about heights. The ledge scene was a soundstage with a mattress, a harness, three floors of fake drop, and pigeons trained to attack him. Winograd said visual effects sold the height. The director called a helicopter sequence the hardest set piece. The official trailer, out November 27, sells morgue visits, shooting practice, and a theft of toxic chemicals. Christian Tappan, Veronica Bravo, and Noe Hernandez fill out the conspiracy. [5], , [7]
Mendez said he first got the Argentine film about four years before cameras, loved it, then refused to watch it again near the shoot. "You have to tell your own story." He found a real Coyoacan intellectual, read him the script, and built the accent from those notes. Villegas said the cop who will not take therapy felt closer to him than the other cops he has played. Netflix listed the picture as a TV-MA Mexican action comedy. The English title is A Time for Bravery. The Spanish title is La hora de los valientes. Same movie. [5], [4]
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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