CASA DE MI PADRE (Matt Piedmont). 84 minutes. Subtitled. Opens Friday (March 16). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNN
Will Ferrell speaks Spanish. If that central conceit doesn’t tickle you like it would most of the Sasquatch-sized comedian’s fan base, then Casa De Mi Padre will only afford you modest pleasures – dry smirks as opposed to riotous laughs.
This parody, brought to you by Ferrell’s Funny Or Die amigos, has the actor sporting a tan and deep-fried hair as Armando Alvarez, a dim-witted ranchero who must protect his father’s land from Mexican drug lords. Turns out Armando’s own brother (Diego Luna) and future sister-in-law (a stunning Genesis Rodriguez) are also part of the narcotics game, bringing home a war with a local boss (Gael García Bernal).
The throwaway plot is just a means for intermittently funny visual gags that ridicule Mexican telenovelas and Zapata westerns. Multiple reaction shots, clumsy staging and overacting make easy fodder for Ferrell and company, though the send-up isn’t as funny as the genuine article.
Ferrell does his mugging and winking routine while Luna, Bernal and Rodriguez deliver more genuine comedy by playing their characters with conviction.
Director Matt Piedmont’s ingenuity behind the camera produces intentionally poor results, but all this mockery seems pointless, since Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez have already affectionately mimicked these genres.
