Casa De Mi Padre. This movie is basically an 84 minute Saturday Night Live sketch, which was very disappointing. First of all, the entire movie is spoken in Spanish. This slowed down the film and made the jokes fall even flatter. Through its repetitive jokes and constant reading, I only summoned a few laughs. I am a huge Will Ferrell fan, but this is by far his weakest film. The premise is a one-note joke that was taken beyond funny into annoying, repetitive, and somewhat racist. The only thing I enjoyed from this movie was Nick Offerman, who was solid supporting character that actually provided some laughs.
The Plot Follows along these lines:
Armando Alvarez (Ferrell) has lived and worked on his father’s ranch in Mexico his entire life. As the ranch encounters financial difficulties, Armando’s younger brother Raul (Diego Luna) shows up with his new fiancée, Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez). It seems that Raul’s success as an international businessman means the ranch’s troubles are over as he pledges to settle all debts his father has incurred. But when Armando falls for Sonia, and Raul’s business dealings turn out to be less than legit, all hell breaks loose as they find themselves in a war with Mexico’s most feared drug lord, the mighty Onza (Gael Garcia Bernal)
This film seems like it was more along the lines of an experiment of a sketch. There was no chemistry between any of the characters and the Spanish seemed to slow the entire film down, maybe even purposefully pausing to allow viewers to read. Will Ferrell is a million times funnier in English. They tried way too hard to make this into a comedic Spanish soap opera, and epically failed. With a meager 3 or 4 funny moments in this movie, just wait for this film to hit Redbox or Netflix (which I’m sure will soon).
Have you seen it? Share your thoughts on Casa De Mi Padre in the comments!
