An essential thing about being a comedy, is that it has to be funny. Of course comedy is subjective, but for me I'm happy to say that I found this movie to be really funny! There are some really good variety of clever jokes in this, from physical jokes, sight gags, lowbrow humor, lines with double-meanings, scenes of comedic embarrassments, hilarious banter, to just the whole adage of being "funny because it's true." There were funny scenes in this movie that I couldn't help but laugh out loud at. Besides the deft comedic direction by Ken Marino, or the witty writing by Chris Spain and Jon Zack, a huge part of what makes this movie work as well as it does is because of the characters.
Leading the charge in this movie is international funny man Eugenio Derbez as Maximo. Derbez has amazing comedic timing in this, and is able to juggle being an embarrassing doofus, as well as a sympathetic loser, that makes it hard for us not to root for the man even when he is being such an idiot. His chemistry with his nephew Hugo; fantastically played by Raphael Alejandro, and his sister Sara; played excellently by Salma Hayek, is also one of the main highlights of the movie. Rob Lowe, playing his best friend and fellow gigolo, also brings us some good scenes to the movie. If there's one rough patch in the ensemble of characters, it's likely the ones played by Rob Huebel and Rob Riggle.
The premise of this movie is arguably not that original, and isn't necessarily something you haven't seen before. However, this story usually applies to some young dumb blonde woman, and not some middle aged Mexican man. So despite some familiar plot tropes, this feels like a fresh take of it anyway. A quarter of the movie is also in Spanish with English subtitles; which gives the characters a nice air of authenticity. As typical as it is, there is a moral to the story, and there are lessons to be learned. Oddly enough though, not every plot thread ends up with a learned moral lesson, which honestly surprised me.
After watching this movie, I found myself repeating or reliving some of the jokes and funny scenes from the movie. I think that's a good sign that as a comedy, this might be a lot more memorable than initially thought. Funny movie!
lovedit ENJOYED IT itsokayitsmehitsterrible
