Casa de mi Padre

Armando Álvarez (Will Ferrell) is a simple man, he lives on his father's ranch in Mexico, and hangs out with his two buddies, riding horses and dreaming of some day finding a perfect woman. The ranch is facing financial problems and when his successful little brother Raul (Diego Luna) returns to the ranch with a glamorous woman Sonia (Génesis Rodríguez) to claim his land, the family's troubles appear to be over. Though initially suspicious of Sonia's motives, Armando takes a shine to his brother's hot fiancée. Meanwhile, a dangerous drug lord Onza (Gael García Bernal) gets involved in the turf war with Raul, along with some corrupt local policemen, and an American DEA agent. It's down to Armando to save his family, the girl, and the ranch, with a little help from his friends and a talking stuffed white lion (this makes perfect sense, right?).

I've had the pleasure of watching Will Ferrell's new comedy Casa de mi Padre twice now so I guess I should jot down some thoughts, ahead of the film's UK release next Friday. I thought this was like Sergio Leone and Mel Brooks getting together to make a fun Mexican soap / Western spoof, deliberately amateurish, fully aware of its extremely low budget and thin plot, with loose editing and non-existent special effects. Whether you find the film funny largely depends on whether you find Will Ferrell and his deadpan face funny. He has played similar dumbo characters before, but this time he speaks Spanish!

I'm happy to say he pulls it off with some success, and owns every scene, eliciting continuous laughter from the audience whenever he speaks. The off-the-wall humour works well, but in places it feels like it's the same joke being repeated. After a few beers it all makes sense though, including the above mentioned stuffed lion that speaks, and the "missing" action scene (involving the said lion, a tiger, a coyote and some crew members) with an on-screen note of apology from 2nd camera assistant. Watch out for the musical interludes (one song consisting of only "la la la la") and a night-time bum-pinching love scene by the camp fire! Funny as hell. Overall, Casa de mi Padre is not great but it's certainly something different! Stay for the extra post-credits scene.

UK release date: 8th June 2012