Rudo y Cursi

It is a very good Mexican movie about soccer and fame; the plot is fun and the acting is excellent; I highly recommend it.

A really funny, refreshing and original Mexican movie.

It is the story of two adult brothers -nicknamed Rudo and Cursi- banana farmers and aficionado soccer players, who, after being discovered by a soccer manager, join the A league but each of them playing in different teams.

I don't like soccer, so I thought that the movie would be a bore, but I was surprised that it did not bore me at all. The story is very well told with great sense of humor and lightness. Even the football scenes were engaging and very entertaining. The many twists and turns of the story, the drama and humor, the national self-deprecation, the passions and hatred of the characters are all presented in a very dynamic, sweet and light way. The movie really flows, has a great atmosphere, great characters and is very enjoyable.

I saw this at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The two main characters are brothers and polar opposites in terms of the roles they have. One being fun, jokey laughable while the other is more gritty, serious and intense. Depending on who was on screen, the story weaved from pleasing comedy to suspenseful drama. The movie is based around the 2 brothers being plucked from banana plantation obscurity into footballing limelight but this is by no means a movie about football. It's more about the the brothers yearning for fame and fortune and their determination to provide better lives for their loved ones. The directors and actors were present at the screening and asked the audience to watch this "not as a foreign movie but simply as a movie." With that in mind, don't go to see this looking for strong statement about Mexico City, go and see it for the story and acting itself.

Two siblings rival each other inside the world of professional soccer.

This film is marketed as being from the creators of "Y Tu Mama Tambien", which is not only true but very wise marketing. But let us not be fooled, this film is not on the same level, even if it looks just as good and has the same folks involved.

Aspects of it are quite good, and the Cheap trick karaoke is fairly amusing. But this rivalry of two soccer players is not very compelling. In "Mama", there was another rivalry between two young men, but that seemed more powerful. This is a situation where we feel no need to care about one or the other.

Well... BEFORE jumping into this Mexican Offering....

FIRST: Let us FOCUS on the Title's Content and Context:

What great expectations I had for this film! And why not? Most of the Mexican films I've seen this year have received a well-deserved 4 Stars! Besides, this film boasts a redux of the pairing of Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, who starred together in "Y Tu Mama También". Remember the great portrayals they rendered in that film? The great on-screen chemistry they exhibited!?!

"RUDO" begins with the title characters as brothers; well, half brothers, anyway, working on a banana plantation in rural Mexico. RUDO started out OK, although most of the funnier bits were rooted in the cultural regional oddities demonstrated in the congenial non-stop string of obscenities and insults the two brothers hurled at each other.

I don't have to read subtitles in Spanish, but for those who do, I would imagine a lot of the humor would be lost because of them, and also because these regional cultural quirks are naturally lost in translation! As RUDO progressed, I increasingly became aware that my expectations were not going to be met. Like genetically engineered bananas...You know, the ones that take forever to ripen!... RUDO was picked too soon and served up green! The movie is funny and amusing, at times, but could have been a hell of a lot better, if everybody hadn't been so forced, if they all hadn't TRIED SO hard...to be funny!

If they ALL hadn't been so stressed, I could have forgiven that RUDO's basic premise revolves around two 30-ish banana ranch worker brothers, who play local soccer on weekends, suddenly becoming the BEST soccer players in all of Mexico! That's a lot of suspension-of-disbelief!

BTW...Don't miss the music video in Special Features...Las chicas Mexicanas try just hard enough! Barely limps in w/6*******.

BUT.... ANYWAYS.... ENJOY! / DIDFRITELA!