Casa de mi Padre Reviews

I never really wanted to see this one. I hate Will Ferrell and this just didn't garner any interest for me. It does have a pleasant cast otherwise with the likes of Diego Luna, Genesis Rodriguez, Efren Ramirez, and Gael Garcia Bernal.

It is quite obvious a parody of telenovelas and low budget Mexican cinema. It starts off with some Spanish music and a narrator announcing it will be a Mexican film due to this. I did like the Christina Aguilera James Bondy theme song. That was kind of funny. Most of it just tries way too hard to be funny though. It ends up coming up way too short of that. Sure I snickered a few times, but it was more due to stupidity than anything else. It had a few moments of violence I had not expected to see which were probably the only interesting thing here. The twists come out of nowhere and are just ludicrous. I didn't care to stay and watch the end credits scene with Will Ferrell singing.

The performances other than Ferrell (who as bland as expected) were quite good though and humorous. I particularly enjoyed newcomer at the time Genesis Rodriguez as well as the more seasoned Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal.

This is Matt Piedmont's only film and I can see why. This guy shouldn't be making feature length films. Andrew Steele hasn't done too much other than this. Eva Maria Peters is credited for dubbing dialogue which I had no idea was a thing. I am unfamiliar with her other work. It seemed they just tried to hard to make a parody funny and ended up falling flat on their faces.

I really didn't like this film. It just wasn't the kind of humor I agree with. I think it was already killed for me when it was a cast driven by Will Ferrell. If you like Will Ferrell and appreciate the humor then by all means go for it. If otherwise I would recommend avoiding this one.

"Let him die. He's missing a hand anyway."

The concept behind Casa de mi Padre can be summed up very simply: Will Ferrell in a telenovela spoof - in Spanish! It's the type of pitch that one would expect for a short Saturday Night Live skit, which is unsurprising since Casa de mi Padre's writer and director have been involved in SNL for years. A Spanish-language parody of low-budget Mexican serials, this is an oddball comedy, but it's not nearly as insane or downright hilarious as it had the potential to be. Its restrained approach is commendable since it compels Ferrell to attempt a different brand of humour, but the finished movie is only marginally successful, with only a handful of laughs here and there. The premise would be better suited for a ten-minute sketch, as it feels too scattershot as an 85-minute feature.

Seen as a moron by those around him, Armando Alvarez (Ferrell) is the black sheep of his family, often being unfavourably compared to his successful drug-dealing brother Raul (Diego Luna). When Raul returns to the family ranch, he brings his new fiancée Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez), with whom Armando is immediately smitten. Further trouble soon arises in the form of The Onza (Gael García Bernal), a dangerous drug lord who enters a turf war with Raul. With death and destruction unfolding all around him, Armando is given the chance to prove he's not a screw-up and hopefully win the heart of Sonia as well.

The main joke of Casa de mi Padre, of course, is the fact that the white, completely non-Mexican Ferrell is playing a Mexican role, delivering his dialogue entirely in Spanish. But the humour does go deeper than that, with writer Andrew Steele serving up a steady stream of amusing moments that parody low-budget Mexican filmmaking. Casa de mi Padre is to Spanish melodrama what Black Dynamite is to '70s blaxploitation, with the characters delivering cornball dialogue in a hilariously sincere manner, and with the technical limitations of Mexican cinema being affectionately recreated by director Matt Piedmont. An establishing shot in town of a truck pulling into a parking space was done with phoney small-scale toy models, and the musical score abruptly comes and goes as if mixed by a clueless foreigner. Production values are daffy as well, with cheap sets and a white tiger that looks about as convincing as a teddy bear. A scene of Armando and Sonia riding horses is incredibly phoney, as the horses are clearly fake and they're in a studio against an obvious backdrop. Piedmont even throws in an opening title sequence that feels like something from a James Bond movie, supplemented with a catchy theme song performed by Christina Aguilera.

Unfortunately, it takes a while for Casa de mi Padre to hit its stride, as it's oddly sedate and flat before finally picking up steam into the second half. It's almost worth the wait, especially once the climax arrives involving a campy gun battle in which Armando harnesses his inner action hero. This role represents a considerable change of pace for Ferrell, abandoning his wildly overzealous man-child persona to play a more nuanced character in another language, compelling him to stick to the script rather than constantly improvising. Ferrell even sings at one stage, backed by a mariachi band, adding further flavour to the madness. Ferrell is actually one of the production's major assets, as he recognised the type of movie that this was and nails the requisite tone. Also good is stunning newcomer Genesis Rodriguez, who's skilled at comic timing and delivery, and has plenty of charm to boot.

Casa de mi Padre did not make me laugh as much as I wanted or expected it to, and it lacks a special spark to genuinely bring it to life, but it nevertheless remains a fun enough comedy that deserves plaudits for its amusing commitment to recreating goofy Mexican cinema. Although not a comedic masterpiece, it has its moments, and it's sure to become somewhat of a cult classic in future years even if it'll be appreciated more for its design than its actual delivery.

6.0/10

Warning: this movie must be watched only by people with very good sense of humor. I don't understand why people are criticizing it so much : it's really good, and since it's a comedy, it's supposed to make us laugh, well that made me crack up, so I just love it! Great parody of spaghetti mexican western movies, satirizing elements of classical mexican movies and mexican telenovelas. Whoever doesn't understand Mexican pop culture will not understand this movie either. Love the performances by Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, who are superior actors that can be chameleons and play any kind of character. Really funny and really good to watch in a boring afternoon. If the movie had been turned on into a drama - without the funny parts and stuffed animals and stuff - it would be a nice movie as well. I really really like it!