'Inspiración' isn't. For those who have the patience to sit through this Mexican extended novella, discovering that other countries are capable of producing the kind of summer chick flick messes that Hollywood cranks out ad infinitum will be the surprising reward. Written and directed by Angel Mario Huerta and starring a group of Mexican TV actors, 'Inspiración' has little to recommend it.
A group of Macho guys (supposedly teenagers although all of the actors are obviously aged well beyond that!) with little on their minds except dating, doing the club scene, sporting wagers about girls as though the girls were game-things for goals, spur on the naive Gabriel (Arath de la Torre) to pursue a beauty he merely glimpses and gets a first name Alejandra (Bárbara Mori). Gabriel in 'inspired' to write poetry (not a pastime appropriate to macho men...) in response to Alejandra, has a confrontation with his father that begins with the usual flair of son not living up to father ideals and ends with a complete reversal of tears and forgiveness..., and is rigged into assignation with his 'inspiration'. Each move Gabriel makes to woo Alejandra results in disaster in situations intended to be humorous but that are really just gross or silly.
It is the old, tired story of boy meets girl, boy falls all over himself to impress, girl initially responds but is gradually repulsed by boy's insipid arrogance and behavior, boy looses hold on girl, and eventually boy gets girl. Yes, that is it! The acting is almost as weak as the script and direction and while some of the actors are attractive people, they have no sense of comedy or love chemistry or charisma. The film is overproduced, with more emphasis on décolletage than on character development, and in the end the only saving grace is seeing Monterey, Mexico and surrounding areas to advantage. Definitely a class B movie that probably should not have been exported. 92 long minutes in length and in Spanish with English subtitles. Grady Harp
