Say this for the Mexican action comedy “Non-Negotiable.” They pack a lot of characters, plot and “twists” into 86 minutes.

An almost jaunty, populist action comedy about a presidential kidnapping, scandal, petty corruption with a whiff of police incompetence built around a hostage negotiator in a troubled marriage trying to free his therapist wife — also held hostage with El Presidente — director John Taratuto’s got his hands full just trying to make the four-writers-screenplay make sense.

Taratuto, who gave the world “I Married a Dumbass” a few years back, misses as often as he hits in that regard, even if he and his cast get the tone, the messaging and the subtext right.

Mauricio Ochmann, from the vast supporting cast of the long-running Mexican TV series “El Señor de los Cielos,” stars as Alan Bender, an adrenalin junky who loves coming in and saving the day as a police hostage negotiator.

He loves it so much he’s neglecting his psychiatrist wife (Tato Alexander) and undercutting her practice with his showboating.

Alan’s way of getting out of his promise to give up “field work” so that he can be more help to her and their daughter is to make a guy with a stutter (Itza Sodi) the protege he’s training to replace him. The joke there is Menendez will never work out in a job where your ability to talk fast and lie faster to plead criminals into giving up their hostages is paramount.

Alan even takes a call in the middle of couple’s counseling. But hell’s bells, it’s a “Code Pig” (in Spanish, subtitled, or dubbed into English).

That means the country’s cowboy-hat populist president Araiza (Enoc Leaño) has been grabbed. Turns out the populist has a congresslady on the side, and that’s how the tinkerer with a grudge, Vicente (Leonardo Ortizgris) trapped him and her and tied them up in bomb vests.

Alan is late to the scene, which all involved try to keep hush-hush. The competent SWAT commander in charage (Claudette Maille) figures she has the situation well in hand — squad deployed, cameras everywhere tapped into.

“Why can’t I see the drone video?” “Lt. Vasquez borrowed it to record his son’s birthday.”

Another twist to the hostage scenerio is that Victoria, Alan’s wife, and the personal trainer (Gonzalo Vega Jr.) she may be having an affair with are also being held, as the kidnapper has an agenda, a plan and a grudge — perhaps against Alan.

The script’s subtext is that “corruption” and fake “populist” rich dude politicians are the reason none of Mexico’s insoluable problems ever get solved. How far will the kidnapper go to get his revenge, and what political ramifications will that have?

Because the government cannot let this blackmail come off, cannot let this “get out” and has all these assetts in place to ensure that. Well, except for the drone.

As for the results, some sequences play, some are novel and some are tried and trite cliches. The picture’s opening pre-kidnapping scenes are hard to follow, and the story reaches a climax, an ending, and then struggles to go on. More obvious and contrived populist points must be scored. Apparently.

Still, it’s not a bad effort one and all and quite a bit more high-minded than “I Married a Dumbass.”

Rating: TV-14, violence, sexual discussions

Cast: Mauricio Ochmann, Tato Alexander, Leonardo Ortizgris, Enoc Leaño, Itza Sodi, and Claudette Maille.

Credits: Directed by Juan Taratuto, scripted by Julietta Steinberg, Joe Rendón, Daniel Cuparo and Marcelo Birmaj. A Netflix release.

Running time: 1:26