On the other hand, "Anchorman" and "Stranger Than Fiction." What the hell, Ferrell? Every time you get me this close to boycotting you, you come out and make an incredible film that injects some hope into me that perhaps, if I dared to have the audacity to believe, you might actually start making good movies. Then another 3 or so years go by, you make a dozen movies that are all crap, and just when I've just about given up all hope again, "Everything Must Go."
Why do you continue to make me suffer through all your crap to get to the good stuff, Ferrell? Don't get me wrong, I'm overjoyed whenever you give me a fantastic movie like "Everything Must Go," but the horrible, horrible things you make me suffer through to get to that point, man! It's just outright cruel. And the worst part is when I can see the vast dip in quality ahead of me, right when I'm coming off of one of your good films.
Before seeing "Casa de mi Padre," "Everything Must Go" was the last of your movies I'd seen, which had left a pleasant, minty aftertaste on my palette. Now, in front of "The Dark Knight Rises," I see the trailer for "The Campaign," staring you and one of the only people I find more irritating than yourself, Zack Galifianakis. And that movie looks ATROCIOUS. That looks "The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" bad. Is this the start of another 3 to 4 year long streak of terrible for you? WHY DO YOU MAKE ME SUFFER SO?!?!
I guess I can't really blame him too much. He keeps making these movies because, well, why the hell wouldn't he? People love them. A Will Ferrell comedy is pretty much guaranteed money in the bank. And despite the fact that he is a shockingly good dramatic actor, when he does serious stuff, it bombs. Such is life. It just makes me sad when I see talent so wasted. I really do want to like Will Ferrell, because the things I like him in, I really like him in. Seriously, some of the roles he's done I consider Oscar worthy. I keep coming back to it, but his performance in "Everything Must Go" was unforgivably ignored in the 2011 Academy Awards. At least a nomination. Something to encourage him to continue making quality films.
So finally getting to the point with today's film, "Casa de mi Padre." I was cautiously intrigued by this film simply because of the fact that it was different, or at least appeared different. And of course, based on his track record, different is usually better for a Will Ferrell movie. The fact that it was entirely in Spanish I felt was a ballsy move that, perhaps, would mean that it was one of those better Will Ferrell films.
Oh, by the way, it's completely in Spanish with subtitles and everything. You 90% of the American movie-going public who whine and complain and refuse to watch a movie based on that fact alone can just stop right here and not watch it. Just know that I don't really think less of you for refusing to read subtitles. I just feel sorry for you.
Sorry, that's my snob moment for the day. Might not happen again till the next time.
Nice high horse you got there, Will. I gots me one o' dems, too.
Anyways, although I respect the hell out of Will Ferrell and the makers of "Casa de mi Padre" for even making a film like this, I can't in good conscious say it was worth it. "Casa de mi Padre" was just not good. In fact, I'd call it outright bad. This is not, however, for the reason most people would assume. The fact that it was in Spanish didn't kill it, although it may have hurt it a little. No, what killed it is the fact that it's another one of those "half-way" comedies. It's a movie that isn't funny enough to be a comedy, but is too goofy to be a drama.
Let's talk first about the comedy. Most of the gags are one of two jokes: either the film draws attention to the fact that it's really cheap, or things take an inordinately long time to end, such as people laughing over a stupid comment for far too long, or ending a tense conversation by saying "goodbye" for like 5 minutes. There's also a weird running gag where Will Ferrell is terrible at rolling cigarettes. What is funny is subjective for everyone, I realize that, but that just seems to me to be the laziest kind of humor, especially the "low budget" kind.
"Oh look. They are obviously in front of a matte painting. How hysterical. You going to do anything with that? Make a comment about it? Acknowledge it? It's just there? What's the joke? That's it's cheap? That's not funny in of itself. There needs to be a joke associated with it."
There are two examples I can immediately think of for movies that did the "cheap equals funny" thing right. The first one was "Black Dynamite." Now that movie was a parody of notoriously cheaply/poorly made movies, specifically "Dolomite," and there were scenes where they acknowledged the cheapness. Now, they didn't go all forth-wall obliterating with it, they would just have maybe a moment when Michael Jai White would have a boom mic get a bit too close to him, get in frame, and he would spare a quick, annoyed glance at it. That also fits into the infamous "wandering boom mics" so prevalent in "Dolomite."
See, that's a joke. It's not side-splitting, but it's an actual joke. If they had just had the boom mic drift into frame, it's not really funny, is it? It's just pointing out that the production value is in the toilet. If, because of the cheapness, it affected their acting or something, then it moves into the "gag" territory.
The second example, probably a better one, would be "Monty Python and The Holy Grail." I don't think I even need to remind you of coconuts. See, there they worked the cheapness of the movie into an entire bit that is one of the most memorable in a film where nearly every line could be etched in stone as a monument to comedy. Not only did the other characters acknowledge the fact that they were using coconuts to substitute horses, but it lead to an entire discussion about where in Mercia they would have possibly gotten their hands on tropical coconuts in a temperate zone.
God, I wish I was watching " ¡Three Amigos!"right now.
The second kind of joke in "Casa de mi Padre," the thing about taking way too long on something, or extending a gag way past the point of absurdity is for me a pretty tricky thing to do right. It's really only worked a few times that I've seen, one of which is the gag which pretty much started the whole thing: Sideshow Bob stepping on the rakes on "The Simpsons."
That was a masterful bit of comedy, and really is the best example of the "slightly funny becomes annoying becomes confusing becomes absurd becomes hysterical" thing, which is the basis of the whole gag. "Mystery Science Theater 3000" also had a bit in their "Devil Fish" episode when Mike and the Bots mockingly laugh over the end credits to the point of hyperventilation for what seems like a good 2 minutes straight, and it's quite infectious. And while I hate to give credit to a show I despise, Peter grabbing his knee on "Family Guy" was great. Seeing what happens after the evil laughter peters out in the first "Austin Powers" movie is also brought to mind.
It really doesn't work here, for some reason. While seeing Will Ferrell and his friends laughing over some really really unfunny statement for a very long time does have a certain instinctual effect of eventually putting a smile on your face, it's really just like spreading a yawn. It's not that you necessarily want to, it's just that you can't help it when someone next to you does it. I think the reason it works in the other examples was that it was taken so far over the top that the absurdity of it hit with much greater impact. "Casa de mi Padre" keeps those jokes relatively low key, which was probably a mistake.
I also have to bring up the fact that while I appreciated them making a film in Spanish, I think it may have hurt the comedy a bit. Timing is a really import thing in comedy, if not the most important thing, and if you have to read something, no matter how fast of a reader you are, the timing is going to be a bit off. It may not matter greatly in every case, but it's a tricky thing that, while it may not have hurt always, it certainly didn't help. Just food for thought on that one.
I'd also like to address tone for a minute. It was really surprising to me that for a comedy, this has some obscenely dark stuff in it. In keeping with the style of the Spanish soap operas which they are parodying, there is a whole lot of violence and killing going on, and I don't know if it's supposed to be funny or not. If it is supposed to be taken funny, they sure could have cut back on the drama and tragedy a bit.
Oh that's hilarious...
There are scenes which could have been spliced into "The Godfather" with how dark and brutally violent they are, especially a scene where like 30 people get mowed down with machine guns at a wedding, all in operatic slow-motion, with blood spraying everywhere. It's actually a very horrible, emotional scene which in a legitimate drama would have been quite powerful. And of course, let's not forget about the flashback where you find out that, as a child, Will Ferrell accidentally shot and killed his mother while trying to save her from two rapists.
You know? Funny!
That scene is played for serious, by the way. I don't care whether or not it takes place in front of a cheap backdrop - they have a dim-witted but well meaning 5 year old shoot his mother with a rifle as she's struggling to escape two men trying to rape her. No amount of cheap set design and sepia-tone filters to make it look old-timey can make that funny. I really question this film's sense of priorities when it comes to tone, because that stuff bummed me out, man, and I have a dark sense of humor.
While I've said a lot about "Casa de mi Padre" sucking, there were two things about it that I really liked. The first thing was a character trait Diego Luna gave to Will Ferrell's brother Raul, which was that he is constantly drinking and smoking. And I mean constantly. There isn't a moment where he doesn't have a drink in his hand, which is always changing in between shots.
This guy was awesome.
While that doesn't sound necessarily funny, when he reaches into the aether to pull out a whiskey on the rocks in the middle of an intense gunfight, takes a drink, and then starts shooting again, I had to laugh. Even when he's in the middle of his death scene, doing his best Willem Dafoe from "Platoon" impression as bullets carve him up in slow-motion as operatic music swells, he is still taking sips from his glass, being sure not to let it spill. It's pretty hysterical.
The other thing I really liked was a scene that had me laughing really hard. It happens right as some coyotes are about to fight a stuffed white lion (don't ask). The movie suddenly stops, and in a very "Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked" moment, a letter from the second assistant director appears on screen to apologize, because while what they filmed was the most amazing footage they'd ever seen, they can't legally show us. The apology goes on to include coked-up tigers and people getting eaten. It's a great bit of writing, and it was the only part in the entire movie where I was laughing out loud. A lot.
Funniest part of the film.
I've talked a lot about a movie that I really didn't like much at all, so I guess that's a victory in my favor, since I actually found something to discuss. I think the worst thing about it is that while I respect Will Ferrell for doing something different, the fact that this movie not only failed to make its money back in the States but also sucked leads me to believe that it will be even less likely he'll take more chances. And taking chances is usually what results in him making a decent film. Damn.
THE BOTTOM LINE - "Casa de mi Padre" is a very weird film, and I respect it for being unique. I respect the hell out of it. But it wasn't good. It's not funny, with the exception of that one bit with the apology, and it's overall way too dark to even be charming. And as a drama it would fail because of the goofiness, despite the grim subject matter. Perhaps you need to be a huge Mexican soap opera fan to really "get" it, but somehow I doubt that would help much. Skip it.
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