Rudo y Cursi

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.

The history of the peasant or working class young man who rises to the top in the world of sports or entertainment only to fall due to betrayal and/or addiction has been told many times before, but this movie from the team of "Y Tu Mama Tambien" feels new and dynamic. Compelling, funny, insightful, fast-paced, philosophical, moving, this tale of two brothers who are able to leave their banana-picker job to become major league football stars in Mexico City is fresh and exciting.

With a vibrant cinematography, an unflinching look at the Mexican realities of the marginally-living rural laborer class and the world of professional football with its egos, deals, and fame, we are presented with a large incisive, ironic slice of Mexican life. Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna as usual disappear into their roles this time as the competing brothers who are not prepared to hit the big time. Poverty, machismo, football fanaticism, gambling, sex, cocaine, family problems, shady people are shown as colorful and obscene as the language used by characters. The scenes are fluid and entertaining; it may be a drama but it is also a fun comedy and totally life-affirming. To top it all, there is a great music video with Garcia Bernal doing Van Halen's "I Want you to Want me" as a ranchera in Spanish. In the end, the movie even at 103 minutes feels perhaps too brief leaving one wishing for more.

"Rudo y Cursi" reaffirms the talents of director Carlos Cuaron, Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna.

I just screened this new flick out of Mexico at the Sundance 09' Premiere. I went into the movie very pleased to see the two ultra talents Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna reunited on screen with the filmmakers that brought us the classic Y tu Mama Tambien. Luna and Bernal are tremendous actors and their chemistry on screen is evident from the start, and throughout the movie they bring life to the two main characters Beto (Luna) and Toto (Bernal). Beto is rough, tough, and determined, Toto is unassuming, curious and also determined though in a more naive way. The story follows the two brothers lives as they go from "hick" banana farmers to professional futbol stars. The strength of the movie is in the diversity of the two brothers transition from nobodies to somebodies and how one brother embraces the fame and all its opportunities while the other is unable to leave behind his reckless habits. The background to the brotherly chaos is the insanity of the Mexican futbol league that is corrupt,cutting and beautiful at the same time. The rise to fame is glorious, but what must go up must come down. The weakness of the film is ultimately the sudden downturn which may be, as the director later told the audience, true to the Mexican way, but this truth hurts the film when it needs a golden ball to lift its spirits. In this day and time, why not give a little hope, a little success to those who would hope to succeed even though they can't help but screw it up? To each his own, but the pay off is not nearly as sweet, and not nearly as meaningful as one would hope for the two brothers.

Rudo y cursi may be actually one of the greatest Mexican movies i've ever seen, it has great acting, great cinematography and a good script.. This movie is funny in every way and very touching at the same time, I'm Mexican and I don't like Mexican movies that much but this one really did make me laugh, it may the best Mexican movie in the last three years, but I'f your not very aware of the people in Mexico you may not be able to find it that funny, so first I recommend you learn some of the traditions in Mexico, then you go and enjoy this wonderful gem of a movie. Carlos Cuaron did an amazing Job i won't be surprise if in a few years he gets well recognize in the movie business like his brother Alfonso Cuaron. All in all great movie through if you are from Mexico go see it, you'll love it..