By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Dominic Harari | Teresa Pelegri
Starring: Guillermo Toledo | María Botto | Marián Aguilera
Original language title: Seres Queridos
Country: argentina, portugal, spain, united_kingdom
Year: 2006
Running time: 85
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0376177/
Bruce says: “Leni (Marián Aguilera), a nice Jewish girl, brings her boyfriend Rafi (Guillermo Toledo) home to meet the extended family. Rafi has one major disadvantage in this household; he is Palestinian. Leni’s belly-dancing sister Tania (María Botto) is wildly promiscuous; her daughter is undisciplined; her brother is practicing to become an Orthodox Jew; her overbearing mother (Norma Aleandro) is perpetually frantic; her grandfather is blind as a bat; and her father is never home. It’s a curious mix for a madcap farce.
“Rafi may be sexy and intelligent but he also is a bumbling idiot. In helping prepare dinner, a giant glob of frozen pea soup slips out of his hands and out the open window crashing many stories to the ground where it hits a man walking in front of the apartment building. Rafi is sure he has killed Leni’s father. The Orthodox Jew has taped all the light fixtures for the Sabbath which means no electricity. The pet duck gets out of the bathroom and the loaded gun that blind old grandpa keeps around gets into the wrong hands. And Leni’s sister, no stickler for propriety, has designs on Rafi.
“The action centers on finding the missing father whom his wife thinks is having an affair and whom Rafi thinks he has killed. It is difficult to take much of what is going on very seriously largely because the film relies too heavily on caricature. However, the film mildly succeeds in spite of itself. I admit to laughing aloud quite a few times although it is wise to remember that laughter is not always a good barometer for measuring quality. Guillermo Toledo, so very good in THE FERPECT CRIME, proves that he is capable of carrying almost any slapstick comedy on his shoulders. 3 cats”