Casa de mi Padre Review

This latest offering from the perennially amusing Will Ferrell stars the talented comic as Armando Alvarez, the second son of a ranch owner in Mexico. Armando’s life is turned upside down by the return of his beloved but drug-dealing brother Raul (Diego Luna), who brings with him not only his mysterious new fiancé Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez), but the wrath of rival drug lord The Onza (Gael Garcia Bernal). Thus the stage is set for a grand tale of love, rivalry, violence and redemption. Saturday Night Live alumni Matt Piedmont makes his feature film debut as director.

Did I mention it’s all in the Spanish language? Beyond the initial novelty of watching the talented Ferrell speak flawless Spanish, Casa de Mi Padre is a very funny, enjoyably silly spoof of Mexican Westerns and melodramatic telenovelas and mines a similar vein of comedy as Blaxploitation parody Black Dynamite.

Ferrell can be a divisive comedian and some would be largely justified in levelling accusations of self-indulgence at the prospect of a daft tongue in cheek film in another language. As a fan of Ferrell however, I thought the film boasted a lot of the charm of his best work (such as Elf or Megamind) and was more memorable than many of his seemingly endless sports comedies. It doesn’t have the phenomenally high laugh rate of an Anchorman or a Zoolander but it was certainly very entertaining and had the audience of which I was a part of chuckling loudly and frequently. It’s also reassuring to see Adam McKay, frequent Ferrell collaborator credited as a producer.

Those who enjoyed Y tu mamá también or Rudo y Cursi will be as delighted as I was to see Mexican acting duo Bernal and Luna reunite for a third time. They don’t share a great deal of screen time but the obvious enjoyment they are having on set is evident on screen. The inclusion of Genesis Rodriguez is another treat. The charismatic actress was more or less the best thing in the otherwise turgid non-thriller Man on a Ledge so it’s excellent to see her in an actually decent film. I predict she’s going to go on to bigger and brighter things very soon.

Other things to look out for in the film include some several rousingly entertaining musical numbers (Ferrell gives his not at all unimpressive vocal cords a mariachi work out in the film’s songs), some deliberate production goofs and low-tech special effects and the best ever fight scene involving a lion puppet (nod nod, wink wink).

Whilst perhaps not for everyone – it’s doubtful a mainstream audience will take it into their hearts, the genre of film being parodied being perhaps a little obscure on this side of the pond – Casa de Mi Padre will provide some big laughs and high entertainment for those who will take the trouble to seek it out. In short, la película es buena.

Man on a Ledge Review

Man on a Ledge’s director, Asger Leth, has few other credits to his name; the only other of note being his assistant director and co-writing role on The Five Obstructions, Lars von Trier’s experimental documentary in which he challenged the filmmaker Jørgen Leth (Asger’s father) to remake his 1967 film, The Perfect Human in five different ways. What then, could we expect fromMan on a Ledge? Surprisingly, it’s fairly slick and mainstream American thriller.

The plot is relatively simple – a man stands on a ledge of a building in New York, but rather than being suicidal, he is distracting attention from the diamond heist his co-conspirators are undertaking in the opposite building. Of course, there’s a little bit more to it than that. If you want to get bogged down in the specifics, Nick Cassidy, our hero, is an escaped convict and former cop, sent down for stealing the aforementioned diamond. Naturally, Cassidy didn’t steal the diamond but was in fact the fall guy in a dastardly insurance scam at the hands of an unpleasant property magnate. The only way to clear his name is to steal the diamond for real and present it to the authorities.

The simple plotting and robust structure of the film are to its strengths. It also boasts a strong cast. Jamie Bell and (relative) newcomer Genesis Rodriguez impress – their sparky double act as Cassidy’s brother and his girlfriend being the film’s most enjoyable aspect. Elizabeth Banks as the police negotiator and Ed Harris as the baddy give particularly good performances and supporting turns from Anthony Mackie and Edward Burns also please. Unfortunately our man at the centre of all this is played by charisma-vacuum Sam Worthington, an actor that never fails to bore.

The film will suffer in comparisons with comparatively recent releases such as Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Tower Heist. The would-be vertigo-inducing ledge-standing shenanigans are thoroughly emasculated by Tom Cruise’s skyscraper shimmying. It’s hard to feel too frightened for Worthington on his rather roomy ledge once we’ve seen the Cruisester stuck to the side of the world’s tallest building with a just a sticky glove for assistance. Tower Heist also rather steals the film’s thunder in the ‘have a couple of slightly goofy characters perform an elaborate and risky robbery on an old evil rich dude in a tall building’ stakes.

The film that Man on a Ledge would clearly prefer to be compared to is Phone Booth, a classic example of that sub-genre of the thriller movie, the character stuck in a single location scenario.Man on a Ledge is too flighty to truly belong in this genre, but like Joel Schumacher’s neat effort, it’s fairly engaging, pleasingly taut and not beyond all realms of possibility.

Man on a Ledge’s biggest problem is its bizarrely Neanderthal attitudes to its female characters, of which there are three of any note (four at a push). Two of which (Banks and Kyra Sedgwick’s TV reporter) are described as being ‘despised’ and ‘hated’ respectively by male characters. Genesis Rodriguez is reduced to mere eye candy. Throughout the film, she wears a ridiculous push-up bra, which I assumed she was wearing in order to seduce a guard or something, but no, it’s simply to keep the adolescent boys in the auditorium paying attention. Similarly at one point, Rodriguez has to strip down to her undercrackers and don a skin-tight cat suit, for no good reason whatsoever. Well, for no reason to do with the plot at least. It’s especially irritating given how good Rodriguez is in the film; she shouldn’t have to be objectified and in such a crass and cynical way.

Nevertheless, Man on a Ledge was still largely enjoyable. By no means flawless, it is a strong ensemble thriller and a decent mainstream debut for Leth. On the strength of Man on a Ledge, and as long as he can shrug off its slightly derivative and uncomfortable sexist tendencies, it will be most interesting to see what his next project will be.