*Premise spoilers.*
This is a very odd entry in Diego Luna’s filmography. It’s a Will Ferrell movie set in Mexico, performed almost entirely in Spanish. It’s under 90 minutes long, which generally isn’t a great sign for its quality and that holds true here. It’s kind of awkward for a comedy, too far outside of Ferrell’s usual wheelhouse to feel logical, but it doesn’t go quite far enough to be an effective send-up for the sort of movie it’s parodying. Truly, an unusual specimen.
Armando is a rancher with a passion for cattle and the outdoors but less-than-ideal people skills. When his brother Raul comes home with a beautiful fiancée, salt-of-the-earth Armando is brushed aside for his “businessman” brother. But the situation with Raul, and his fiancée Sonia, is far more complicated than he purports. Soon, the family finds itself in the crosshairs of a dangerous cartel, and only Armando can save the day.
It's definitely tropey, and I’d say it leans more into stereotypes than archetypes. It’s uncomfortable to me to see Ferrell, with his hair dyed black and speaking Spanish like a schoolkid. Some of the humor is awkward and feels out of place, while other bits are just what-were-they-smoking weird—like, there’s a scene involving a puma attack that’s shot with a puppet and a mannequin. I assume, along with a probable budget constraint, it’s meant to be part of the humor, but I don’t really get why.
The film is probably at its funniest when it plays things the straightest. There’s a shooting in the second half of the film that intentionally cranks up the melodrama, with “artful” closeups of blood dripping from a white rose. And La Onza, the fearsome drug lord, takes the sleek, unflappable crime boss to absurd levels when he threatens Armando’s family while smoking a cigarette in each hand simultaneously.
In addition to Ferrell, the film features Gael García Bernal as the aforementioned drug lord, and he’s pretty fun as La Onza. We also get an appearance from Efren Ramirez, who I still remember best as Pedro in Napoleon Dynamite, and Nick Offerman plays a DEA agent who’s completely fluent in atrociously pronounced Spanish, which got a laugh or two out of me.
Luna plays Armando’s brother Raul. Predictably, his arrival in the film has their father totally shading Armando by exclaiming, “Finally, the one with the brains has returned! You’re the son I’ve always loved!” He’s suave and successful, in a dressed-up but sleazy way. He has an easy confidence that Armando can’t pull off and is popular with the ladies, but he’s also a guy who’ll wear aviators and smoke through his own wedding ceremony.
Between the quotation marks I put around “businessman,” the fact that the family gets on the wrong side of a cartel, and the film’s stereotypical plot, you can probably what Raul’s business actually entails. Suffice to say, he wishes he had Félix’s savvy. But even though the story is clichéd and obvious, I appreciate the little shred of nuance given to Raul’s nonchalant attitude toward his career. At one point, he explains, “I sell the Americans drugs, but I’d sell them chocolates if they wanted them. But they don’t!”
Despite the dubious quality of the film, I still find Luna’s performance enjoyable. He and García Bernal are my favorite parts of the movie, and that’s more than just my bias talking. Both of them commit so thoroughly to their roles in this flimsy film, and that makes them entertaining. As Raul, Luna is both slick and rough around the edges, growing increasingly unhinged as the plot spirals out of his control.
Recommend?
In General – Eh, I wouldn’t. Not much “there” there, and what there is isn’t great.
Diego Luna – A very hesitant maybe. I wouldn’t call this performance a must by any means, but I did enjoy myself when Luna was onscreen—especially during his scenes with García Bernal.
Warnings
Violence, sexual content, drinking/smoking/drug use, strong thematic elements, and a white American actor playing a Mexican character.
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