Matt Piedmont’s Casa De Mi Padre is the kind of movie that develops cult fanaticism five to ten years after it premieres. As for the present day, however, this spoof western sending up telenovela-style soaps and bad quickie oaters never quite delivers the belly laughs the makers were obviously intending. There are plenty of jokes and gags (some of them very inside jokes that probably delighted the filmmakers more than the audience), but there’s nothing here that achieves the kind of instant madcap hilarity of something like Airplane! It’s a nice try at something different, but it scores only fitfully.
Casa De Mi Padre (Blu-ray)
Directed by Matt Piedmont
Studio: Lionsgate
Year: 2011
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 84 minutes
Rating: R
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: English, Spanish, SDH
Region: A
MSRP: $ 24.99
Release Date: July 17, 2012
Review Date: July 11, 2012
The Film
3/5
Armando Alvarez (Will Ferrell) has remained on his father’s deteriorating ranch while younger brother Raul (Diego Luna) has been out making his fortune in the world and finding the girl of his dreams Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez). But Armando is stunned to learn that Raul’s trade is drug running, and by returning to Mexico, it puts him in direct competition with Mexico’s top drug lord Onza (Gael Garcia Bernal) who also happens to be Sonia’s uncle. When Raul’s wedding to Sonia is disrupted by an attack on the ranch by Onza and his thugs, Armando realizes he must go after Onza himself if his family is to survive.
Not one minute of the film is expected to be taken seriously, obvious by the tacky, scratchy “Mexico-Scope” trademark at the front of the film, and later by all of the tawdry film processes badly (purposely) disguised by the filmmakers: everything from sloppy, overused rear projection and laughably bad miniatures to phony looking standing sets that don’t match real-life locations, stuffed animals (or in one case an animatronic albino wildcat) used every place wildlife is needed, unending continuity goofs, skips in the action due to missing frames, and assorted mannequins tossed into crowd scenes where needed (and in one unforgettable moment, used as a nude stand-in for Genesis Rodriguez during her love scene with Will Ferrell). There are running gags, too, concerning Armando’s inability to properly roll a cigarette, a fondness for slaps to the face (again with Armando on the receiving end of most of them), and constant product placements throughout. Yes, these will earn lots of nods of recognition, but do they produce belly laughs? Rarely. Andrew Steele’s script and Matt Piedmont’s direction certainly pay homage to films by Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, and most assuredly Sergio Leone, but the film’s basic triangle love plot and tiresome drug cartel storyline just don’t produce enough comic characters on which a really successful spoof can fly high. At best, there are moments that work well (the lovemaking scene between Armando and Sonia set to music redolent of cheesy 1960s pop and featuring the couple massaging each other’s rumps) and touches that may completely escape detection (the film crew reflected in the sunglasses of one of the actors), but the underlying story is too weak to generate sustained laughs.
Played entirely in Spanish, Will Ferrell does an excellent job with all of the foreign dialogue even if a couple of long speeches don’t roll effortlessly off his tongue as they would a native speaker. Comic-wise, however, his mostly deadpan reactions and silliness disguised as sincerity is something we’ve seen in so many other spoofs he’s done. As the feuding drug lords, Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna try their best and smoke up a storm (in one memorable moment in a cantina, Bernal is simultaneously smoking two cigarillos) but are not natural comedians and aren’t given a great deal of the comedy weight to lug around. The most natural and touching performance is by Pedro Armendariz Jr. playing the father of Armando and Raul, clearly favoring the younger son and detesting the stupidly and cowardice of his older one. Armendariz died late last year with this movie representing his final film, and it’s a lovely performance to end a career on. Genesis Rodriguez is effortlessly beautiful, but the funniest work in the movie is done in a cameo by Nick Offerman, a DEA agent who speaks dreadful Spanish and earns the disdain of all of the locals.
Video Quality
4/5
The film’s theatrical Panavision aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is presented in 1080p using the AVC codec. In trying to duplicate the scorching hot look of the spaghetti westerns, brown is significantly in the forefront of the color timing here. Flesh tones are quite brown, but color saturation levels are mostly good. Close-ups sometimes go out of sharp focus (which doesn’t actually seem deliberate), but generally sharpness is fine. Black levels are good, too, though most of the film is played in the daylight. As almost the entire film is spoken in Spanish, the subtitles for non-Spanish speakers must be turned on. They’re presented in white and are very easy to read. The film has been divided into 24 chapters.
Audio Quality
4/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound mix concentrates most of its energies on the front soundstage. The rears are mainly used to give a full spread to the music score (Christina Aguilera sings the title song) and a number of songs spread throughout. (The movie stops dead for two musical numbers.) Ambient sounds don’t show up much in the rear channels except on rare occasions. The Spanish dialogue has been placed in the center channel.
Special Features
3.5/5
The audio commentary is provided by actor Will Ferrell, director Matt Piedmont, and screenwriter Andrew Steele. The good friends have a laughter-filled good time commenting on making the film, and the track is important since most of the spoof elements which may have escaped the viewer (a couple of mannequin placements which eluded me) are mentioned as they occur.
All of the video bonus features are presented in 1080p.
“The Making of Casa De Mi Padre” is a 15 ¾-minute featurette featuring brief interviews with stars Will Ferrell, Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna, and Genesis Rodriguez talking about making the crazy film and most singing the praises of the über-patient director Matt Piedmont.
There are ten deleted scenes which can be viewed separately or in one 19 ¾-minute grouping.
“Fight for Love” music video is actually a deleted song scene from the lovemaking sequence between Armando and Sonia in the movie cut for time. It runs 3 ¼ minutes.
There are three faux product commercials featuring actors Will Ferrell, Diego Luna, and Nick Offerman in character selling items featured in the movie. They can be run separately or in a 3-minute block.
A final interview with Pedro Armendariz Jr. runs 3 ¾ minutes but is difficult to fully understand due to windy conditions when it was shot.
The disc includes promo trailers for Safe, Friends with Kids, Saving Private Perez, Everything Must Go¸ and Man on a Ledge.
In Conclusion
3.5/5 (not an average)
Not as funny as it might have been with more inspired characters and more gags, nevertheless, Casa De Mi Padre will earn some serious chuckles for those willing to endure subtitles and will likely make a fun rental especially if a gang of film fans gather together to view it.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
