Cuerpo de élite

Irreverant, in the tradition of Airplane. It would be hard to describe without giving too much away. It's been in my to watch list for ages, because it was in Spanish and I needed the practice for my Duolingo. So glad I watched it in the end on a rainy dull day because the laughter lightened my mood.

With a title like this I was half expecting a parody of the very popular Brazilian movies "Tropa de Elite" (also known as Elite Squad around the world, the first of the two movies winning the Golden Bear at the Berlinale). Having said that, this is a movie from Spain, so that alone should have been a giveaway, that my suspicion was completely wrong in the first place.

Someone has compared this to Police Academy though and I reckon that is a far better thing to say and expect. While this has a much higher budget than the movies from the 80s, this doesn't mean that it is way superior. I'd even argue that most have fond memories of the Police Academy franchise. Whatever the case, I've seen way worse movies than this being much more successful. So while this isn't really great, I'd say "not guilty" (when it comes to the charge of not being funny)

Actors and actresses superb. The script is quite fun but sometimes a bit boring. Anyway I would watch again.

Though many people may think that all movies that foreign countries make are art house dramas, some countries do make populist cinema, Spain being one of them. This particular Spanish effort is a comedy, and you may wonder if it manages to be funny. Well, a lot of the humor may fall flat for people outside of Spain, because often the movie's humor depends on the viewer knowing a lot about Spanish culture and history. And there are some obvious gags that I think fall flat no matter what culture you come from. But while there are a number of misfired gags, there are still a number of gags that, while not laugh out loud funny, will have you smiling or chuckling a little. The actors in the cast are likable, the movie does click along at an acceptable pace, and there are no boring bits. While I wouldn't say this movie is funny enough to actively seek out, if you come across it on Netflix on a slow day as I did, it does pass the time in an agreeable manner.

Watching this movie was a complete waste of time. The worst of the worst. All good rates must be from friends and family.