Starring: Will Ferrell, Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Génesis Rodríguez, Pedro Armendáriz, Jr., Nick Offerman, Efren Ramirez, and Adrian Martinez
Will Ferrell used to be the SNL vet that gave moviegoers mainstream comedies that set the standard for everybody else. Just think of future classics like Old School, Elf, and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Lately, he's been on the indie scene. We recently saw him in the independent flick Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movieas a Midwestern mall owner. Now, we get to see him in the comedy Casa de Mi Padre as a dim-witted ranchero.
Armando Alvarez (Ferrell) lives with his widower father (Pedro Armendáriz, Jr.) on the family's ranch. A ranchero by profession, he claims that he loves the land more than women because he hasn't met the right lady. When his brother Raul (Diego Luna) returns home with his fiancée Sonia (Génesis Rodríguez), he may indeed be meeting that right woman. There are a couple of problems though. Obviously, Sonia will be marrying Raul, and Armando doesn't want to be an adulterer. The other problem is that Raul is a drug dealer encroaching on the territory of the dangerous dealer known as La Onza (Gael García Bernal). By coming back home, Raul has pissed off La Onza and created a mess that Armando will have to clean up.
After the failure that was Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie, I admittedly had low hopes for Will Ferrell's latest effort. From the moment I heard Christina Aguilera's rich vocals in "Casa de Mi Padre" though, I had a feeling that I was going to enjoy the film quite a bit. Casa de mi Padre is a cute little film that really surprised me. The cast and the crew don't take themselves too seriously and have a fun time on set. That fun translates to plenty of laughs with the rancheros on the big screen.
While I definitely enjoyed the film, Casa de mi Padre is only decent. It's a film that's funny throughout but doesn't deliver any huge laughs. Will Ferrell is enjoyable as Armando, but he's clearly not at his peak here. As funny as it is just to hear Ferrell break out some Spanish, that's not enough to carry a movie. The same can be said for the cheap sets and intentionally low production quality of the movie. These things make for a funny little indie flick, not a hilarious one.
With nuggets of commentary on American society and quite a few chuckles, Casa de Mi Padre is an enjoyable flick. I'm just not sure that it's one that needs to be enjoyed on the big screen. Break out the Sangria for this one because Casa de Mi Padre gets a 0.06% rating.
