Would you ever think of Will Ferrell, Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal together in a movie? How about a Spanish language movie? A movie that is a telenovela like the stuff you’d see on Telemundo or Univision. Yeah that’s what they made and it’s called Casa De Mi Padre, a comedy that feels like Tarentino’s & Rodriguez’s Grindhouse but for comedy in terms of keeping to the format of filmmaking. The fact that they stay so close and never break character or deliberately wink at the audience is what makes this a nice achievement of doing an interesting and new comedy.
Armando Alvarez works as a rancher for his father with his friends. His life is thrown for a loop when his more loved brother Raul comes home with a new girlfriend, Sonia. This changes everything when also Armando learns his brother is in a rivalry with a local drug lord Onza and pursuded by US authorities. Armando also has to deal with his growing feelings for Sonia and the disapproval of his father.
Will Ferrell does pretty much his general type of performance in comedies which if it in your taste is great but it’s even more accentuated by it all being in Spanish. Ferrell plays it so straight and dedicated to the style of telenovela that even though it’s silly at times it’s totally believable. Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal both give fabulously over the top performances. Luna puts on this character of a super cool guy who has all the answers but is a little over his head. While Bernal plays his role, Onza as this creepy, weird yet Bond villain classy styled Drug Lord.
Genesis Rodriguez, a veteran of telenovelas herself brings her soap opera “A” game to the movie. When on screen she seems to be able to cry and moments notice and go to super levels of melodrama. She also shows to have a good handling on comic timing something she also did well in Man on a Ledge.
One thing that also stands out is the art direction. There are points in the movie where you can see they are on a set even though they are supposed to be outside. Great use of grain and little touches to with the film and editing. The Chroma of the movie is also very warm with a tinge of yellow continually on the movie. One thing about this movie is that if you don’t like Will Ferrell and some of his movies that he made with Adam McKay like Anchorman or Talladega Nights or even the HBO show Eastbound & Down then you most likely will not enjoy the humor of this movie. It is very much in the same wheelhouse of comedy even though this character isn’t really bad person like a Ron Burgundy or Ricky Bobby.
Casa De Mi Padre is a witty and fun comedy and is totally worth going to see. Even if you don’t like reading subtitles you should make an exception and check this out.
Final Grade is B+
Originally published on Reel Film News