Sanky Panky

Sanky Panky is an almost perfect film. The images are incredible and are in themselves the perfect advertisement for the Dominican Ministry of Tourism. The soundtrack is excellent and contains music from nearly every Hispanic genre, including some excellent "Perico Rip'ao" and music by the hit band Aventura.

The performances by Fausto Mata (Boca'e Piano) and Tony Pascual (Pachuli) are off the charts. These two seasoned comedians do not miss a beat; their maturity and obvious chemistry keep their energy at a boiling point throughout the film - never a corny second.

However, behind the humor, and some of the funniest and most clever lines I have ever heard, is a stark reality - this is that in the Caribbean as in many other world spots, normal people must go to extreme measures to improve their lives.

The weak point is reflected in the some of the casting and parts of the script in the "gringa" part of the film. It is passable though as comedic license allows it to slip through.

I love the film and expect it to become a star throughout the Hispanic world.

The characters have no depth. The storyline is contrived. The acting is amateur at best and filled with a real disregard for the humanity of Domincans. This film goes a long way towards perpetuating negative stereotypes. Genaro, the main character, is a candy store attendant with a burning desire to meet a rich American tourist that he can seduce and escape his economic situation. The folklore amongst his not too bright friends is that this is a guaranteed ticket to the good life. He envisions lounging in his own personal penthouse while simultaneously dealing with his dire circumstances. He lands a job as a gofer in a hotel resort to make his dreams come true only to find himself parading in a chicken suit to please the guests while pretending to be the hotel manager. His attempts to seduce fall flat just as the humor in this films does. Not a good film at all.

In Dominican Republic, the local Genaro (Fausto Mata) works in a small family store and lives with his mother in a poor neighborhood. He is learning a couple of words in English and dreams on being a sanky-panky to get married to an American tourist to move to New York with a VISA and have a better life. He calls his friend Giussepe (Massimo Burgeti), who is the manager of a resort in Bávaro, and applies for a job position entertaining children but expecting to find a wealthy tourist. Genaro meets the gorgeous Martha (Zdenka Kalina), who has come from New Jersey with her fat aunts Dorothy (Nurin Sanlley) and Helen (Patricia Banks), to forget her fiancé after calling off her wedding. Genaro calls his best friends, the womanizer Chelo (Tony Pascual) and the gluttonous Carlitos (Aquiles Correa), to date the aunts and live him alone with Martha. Martha only speak English and Genaro just know a couple of words in English, but everything works out the way he had schemed until the day Martha's boyfriend comes to the resort.

"Sanky Panky" is the first Dominican film that I have seen and I found it very funny. A Brazilian friend of mine that lives in Dominican Republic gave the DVD of this musical-comedy to me as Christmas gift and I really enjoyed it a lot. Fausto Mata is one of the funniest comedians that I have ever seen and it is worthwhile watching his attempt to be a sanky-panky. I did not know the meaning of this word and I have easily found the explanation in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanky- panky). Alina Vargas and Zdenka Kalina are beautiful actresses and there are very few information about them in Internet. Last but not the least, the landscapes and songs from this Caribbean country is an invitation to visit these lovely places. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

As a Dominican I have seen a lot of movies that were shot and made with native material and for me this one is taking the film industry in our country to the next level. This is a movie with a nice script (with minors flaws), well crafted humor, and good acting for some characters.

If your are not Dominican you will enjoy it anyway because of the hilarious of the center character as well as other actors.

In the technical aspect this movie has a great soundtrack, as well it has a nice sound editing and mixing, well directed also.

Sanky Panky show us the real world of the people that does not know other way to succeed but getting involved with a rich tourist and try to make it to the U.S. or Europe maybe, and this is a cruel reality for a part of our population.

We have had good movies before, and this one must be up there along the best of the best.

Dominican cinema has been suffering from stupid humor scripts, bad picture, bad acting and on top bad planning.

This films proves us that Dominican's can do a good film, shoot pretty nice picture, act decently and write good simple scripts.

This film is a good taste of the country, showing us part of its current popular music, stars, hotels, beaches and others.

I saw it and enjoyed very much, in fact i was surprised with its quality, crystal shots, musical scenes and light comedy.

If you want to enjoy a nice comedy/musical picture this is it. It has a very fluid script, some real Dominican situation, and a good line. You will enjoy it.