Christian Gutierrez, Clika, Concrete, Daniel Lopez, DoKnow, drama, Eric Roberts, Herencia de Patrones, JayDee, Jesus Diego, Jimmy Humilde, Josh Benitez, Laura Lopez, Master P, Michael Greene, movies, music, Nana Ponceleon, Percy Miller, Peter Greene, reviews, Uziel Pantoja Delgado
January 23, 2026
by Carla Hay
Directed by Michael Greene
Some language in Spanish with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in California and in Nevada, the dramatic film “Clika” features a predominantly Latin cast of characters (with some African Americans and white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: An aspiring singer, who wants to make it big in Mexican music, turns to drug dealing to finance his goals and to pay off his single mother’s debts.
Culture Audience: “Clika” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and formulaic and trite movies about people who commit crimes to get the money that they want.
“Clika” is an amateurish film that wants desperately to be like Eminem’s 2002 movie “8 Mile,” but it’s as appealing as a rusty microphone. This story (about a wannabe music star caught up in drug dealing) has stale clichés. The acting performances are stiff.
Directed by Michael Greene, “Clika” was written by Greene, Sean McBride and Jimmy Humilde. The movie takes place in California and briefly in Nevada. “Clika” was filmed in Yuba City, California, where most of the story takes place. Yuba City is the hometown of Herencia de Patrones, a regional Mexican music band whose lead singer JayDee (real name: Jesús Diego) is the star of “Clika.” (The movie gets its title for the Spanish-language slang term for “clique.”) Herencia de Patrones formed in 2016.
“Clika” is the type of low-quality film that usually gets released directly to video or streaming services. That’s why people might be wondering why “Clika” got distribution from a major movie studio (Columbia Pictures) and was released in theaters. Columbia Pictures is part of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which teamed up with sister company Sony Music Latin in 2025, for a collaboration deal with Rancho Humilde, the independent label that is home to Herencia de Patrones. Several artists who are signed to Rancho Humilde are on the “Clika” soundtrack. Rancho Humilde founder/CEO Jimmy Humilde is a producer of “Clika.”
In “Clika,” JayDee plays a character named Chito, who wants to be a star in regional Mexican music. In the production notes for “Clika,” JayDee comments on Chito: “He’s the younger version of me. The one that went through the struggles, the one that put in the work and dedication to get to the top.” Chito narrates the film in a droning voice that could put a lot of people to sleep.
There isn’t much “struggle” after Chito goes from being a low-paid farm worker who picks fruit in orchards to being a big-spending drug dealer making up to a six-figure income per month. “Clika” gets very tiresome with the same old “rise/fall/redemption” formulaic storyline that’s been in these types of stories that make it look too easy and too glossy to get out of the drug-dealing game to become a music star.
Chito becomes a marijuana dealer working for his uncle Alfredo (played by Christian “Concrete” Gutierrez), who is the brother of Chito’s unemployed single mother Mari (played by Nana Ponceleon), who knows that Alfredo is a drug dealer. Alfredo is reluctant to bring Chito into the illegal drug business because Alfredo doesn’t want to alienate Mari. Chito lives with Mari and Chito’s younger brother Chuy (played by Josh Benitez), a straight-laced medical-school student, in the house that Mari inherited from her deceased father.
As already revealed in the “Chika” trailer, Chito ends up becoming a marijuana dealer, under Alfredo’s direction. The drug trafficking involves Chito going to various places in California and Nevada to move the supplies. Humilde has a small supporting role as Junior, one of Alfredo’s “homies.” Alfredo is a “middle man” in the drug-trafficking cartel. Alfredo reports to a sleazeball named Angelo (played by Eric Roberts), who is very controlling and ruthless.
The movie tries to give Chito a “noble” purpose for becoming a drug dealer, by making his initial motivation to get enough money to pay off his mother Mari’s debts. In the beginning of the movie, Mari owes a little more than $20,000 in mortgage payments and taxes and is very close to losing the house in foreclosure. But as time goes on, and Chito becomes addicted to the easy and fast cash, he spends most of the money on luxury items and pursuing his dreams to become a music star.
Chito is flaunting a lot of his spending, including buying a new car. Doesn’t Mari notice that Chito suddenly has a lot more money? In the movie, Chito says that he told Mari he got the money from working extra shifts as a fruit picker and getting bonuses. Mari believes this hard-to-believe lie until she finds out that Chito paid off her debts without telling her, and she finds a suitcase full of cash in Chito’s bedroom.
It’s only then that Mari figures out that Chito has been working with Alfredo as a drug dealer, and she orders Chito to move out of the house. This information is already revealed in the “Chika” trailer. It all sounds as stupid as it looks in the movie.
Chito’s two main sidekick friends—laid-back stoner Blunt (played by Daniel “DoKnow” Lopez) and hyper goofball Flaco (played by Uziel Pantoja Delgado)—encourage Chito to pursue his musical dreams. Flaco is so enthusiastic about it, he wants to build a makeshift recording studio in his very tiny bedroom closet. Chito is understandably horrified by this poorly planned and tacky setup. But it isn’t long before Chito gets a phenomenal lucky break: An amateur music video that Chito did goes viral and gets 45 million views.
Chito’s love interest is a veterinary school student named Candy (played by Laura Lopez), who is a stereotypical “good girl” paired with “bad boy” Chito. He keeps his drug dealing a secret from Candy until the truth comes out. The relationship between Chito and Candy goes through all the ups and downs that you can expect from unimaginative movies like “Clika.” In the beginning of their relationship, Candy is perfectly happy to accept real diamond jewelry as a gift from Chito, even though he’s told her that his job is picking fruits and putting them in boxes. “Clika” really makes the women in the movie look very stupid.
And speaking of the rampant sexism in the movie, there’s the expected strip club scene with closeups of scantily clad women gyrating and twerking as if they’re auditioning to be in a rap video from 1996. The strip club scene takes place soon after Chito and Alfredo go to a nightclub in Los Angeles to meet up with drug kingpin Bullet Sloane (played by Percy “Master P” Miller), just to tell him that they won’t intrude on business in Los Angeles. A lot of “Clika” looks like the director watched too many rap videos from the 1990s because Miller looks like he’s trying to audition to be a Notorious B.I.G. impersonator in “Clika.”
Even by low-budget standards, “Clika” is often cringeworthy to watch. Unfortunately, JayDee can’t bring his on-stage charisma as a singer to the skills needed to be a dramatic actor. JayDee delivers his lines of dialogue in the movie like he’s reading a textbook. “Clika” has a few co-stars who have much more acting experience—such as Roberts, Miller and Peter Greene (who plays a cop named Lieutenant Jones)—but their performances aren’t much better. And the music in this tired and uninspiring movie is very forgettable.
Worst of all, “Clika” is a movie that glorifies illegal drug dealing as a “fake it till you make it” way of becoming a music star. The movie excuses drug dealing and the crimes associated with it as indiscretions that should have no consequences if the person committing the crimes really wants to be famous entertainer. And ultimately, it’s hard to take the Chito character seriously when his name rhymes with a Frito-Lay orange junk-food snack.
Columbia Pictures released “Clika” in select U.S. cinemas on January 23, 2026.