The Montoros are a family from Getafe who are looking forward to the summer holidays to go to Cullera to the beach. When the time comes, the reality of the Spanish summer comes face to face with the illusions of marriage and their three children. A hot-tempered husband (Pablo Carbonell) with a good heart, a dominant wife (Anabel Alonso) with quite a bad temper, teenage children (Ana Polvorosa, Luisber Santiago, Christian Casani) who want to party. The first obstacle is the traffic jam in the so-called exit operation. From there nothing is what it seems. The rented apartment hotel is far from what the agency offered, which means discomfort instead of rest. Then there are 'obligations', such as getting up before dawn to put the umbrella on the beach and guarantee a millimeter of sand to enjoy the sun and the sea.
Typical Spanish comedy with the usual casting in a rather slight holiday story. It contains comedic events and dealing with family customs, showing typical sunny images in the crowded, bustling beaches. In a way, this typicality is appreciated, as it offers a critical vision of how the majority of Spanish people end up spending their vacations, a time in which almost more stress accumulates than during the rest of the year. The film results to be a return to the comedy of the other ages, as those about the tourist boom in the 60s Spanish period , also dealing with issues of middle-class family and other addiction, being made in the style of ¨Pedro Lazaga's Verano 70 (1970)¨, ¨Lazaga's El abominable hombre de la Costa del Sol (1970)¨, ¨Fernando Merino's Amor-a-la-espanola (1967)¨ or ¨Pedro Lazaga's Tres suecas para tres Rodríguez (1975)¨. The film is based on the maxim that when nothing can get worse, things get worse, as the filmmaker himself explains. And being full of frivolity, egoism , duplicity , adultery and deceits. The plot sounds excessively typical, as do the characters. It is a mediocre and silly picture and it lacks sparkle , sympathy, mayhem and madness of the other Spanish comedies, adding a lousy script by director Josetxo San Mateo himself. What does seem too 'typical Spanish' are the screams of the almost always angry Anabel Alonso and the cascade of bad words that come out of everyone's mouths. 'Atasco en la nacional' ends up leading to a series of moments that can provoke a smile, but not a laugh. The whole family distributes swearing and bad language everywhere, which is tiring and boring. Not to mention that without sex and various scatologies it seems difficult to make people laugh in this country. And I miss the appearance of some well-known secondary actors, common in this type of film, there is no famous one here, with the exception for Malena Gracia, if she can be considered a popular actress, which I don't believe.
The motion picture was averagely -pulling down- written/directed by Josetxo San Mateo . He is a good craftsman who worked as director assistant , and his film debut was 1983 Percusión , following : 2000 Báilame El Agua , 2003 Diario Una Becaria , 2005 La Semana Que Viene and 2007 Atasco En La Nacional . And directing TV Movies as 1999 Pleno Al Quince and TV Series such as : 1998 Entre Dos Fuegos , 1997 La Banda De Pérez , 1994 Villarriba y Villabajo and 2000-2001 Robles , Investigador and 2001 Mi Teniente. Rating: 4/10. Only for hardcore fans of Spanish comedy.
