Casa de mi Padre got 44% on Rotten Tomatoes. When I saw the very first ad for this movie, not only did I want to see it, but I wanted to see it in the theatre. And I hate going to theatres. After its release the reviews started coming in and, for whatever reason, I started paying attention the reviews.It seems that most of the people that reviewed the movie missed the entire plot: it was a satire of overly dramatic Mexican soap operas. I can't stand normal soap operas because they're stupid and vapid, but when you introduce the Spanish language and the absolutely implausible plot lines and big hair that comes with Mexican soap operas, well, I can't understand them still with my grade 9 Spanish, but I kind of wish I could.
So take that histrionic level of drama and then add in a really fake Jaguar, lots of smoking, Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite, some very sincere facial expressions from Will Ferrell, and an utter lack of shame and you have a really great movie. We laughed our asses off.
Casa de mi Padre is an extension of one of those uncomfortable but brilliant skits that Will Ferrell used to do on SNL (that went on a little long and didn't result in hearty guffaws, but which struck some deep comedic nerve inside you that prevented you from switching the channel to see what else late night television had to offer), mixed with your conventional Mexican soap with a bit of Harold and Kumar's White Castle jaguar scenario thrown in.
Ian Buckwalter of the Atlantic sums it up perfectly as a short skit that goes on too long, but you're glad it did. It could have been a hilarious 5 minute bit on SNL, but I wasn't bored or uninterested for its 84 minute duration tonight.
And not only that? This movie took balls. Who would finance this? What audience were they targeting with lines like "Not all Americans are bad" and "Not all Mexicans are drug dealers"? And when was the last time you saw an actor - comedic or otherwise - risk doing an entire movie in another language, riffing on another country's popular television culture?
This movie is funny, well-played, hard fought, sincere, stupid, vaguely political and cliche and utterly worth the watch.
I enjoyed the Spanish dubbed Anchor Man much better than this movie. We have more Spanish channels on the basic cable feed than we have English channels (that is, if you don't count the religious channels) so we get to see all kinds of movies dubbed in Spanish. Hey, that's a thought, when I'm unemployed I can become totally immersed in the Spanish language by watching TV all day. That's good because I can't afford to travel to Central America if I'm not working....
ReplyDeleteHey, you little post deleter!
ReplyDeleteMwa ha ha ha ha! It came across as too whiny. ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat's with you and terrible movies lately duder? The concept behind this movie is awesome, it just falls flat on its face. As much as I love Will Ferrell, some of his stuff is really hit or miss....
ReplyDeleteTo each their own, n'est ce pas?
ReplyDeleteAnd, in continuing with the "terrible movie" trend, I will admit to watching "Taken 2" last night. And though Rotten Tomatoes gave it 21%, I think it was more like a solid 37%.