Mi gran noche

'My Great Night' (Mi Gran Noche) is Álex de la Iglesia's latest dark comedy romp where a TV taping for a New Year's Eve special is happening (in October) and the people inside are slowly going insane from the monotony of it all. Plus, constantly dealing with personal issues and other madness behind the scenes make up for a collection of entertaining stories that eventually clash.

Iglesia keeps his typical pace of quick comedy going, with quick exchanges and constant surprises; it is rare that you are waiting for something to happen. He brings back the majority of his common cast, along with Spanish singing sensation, Raphael.

While most of Iglesia's films can be somewhat sadistic and violent, this film lacked a lot of that typical content. However, he managed to replace it with more racy/sexy humour. Don't worry -- he levelled it out with some violence for the fans. Regardless, this decision made the film a lot better than anticipated. His previous film, 'Witching and Bitching' (Las brujas de Zugarramurdi) fell flat on its face. This film bounces back in fantastic form. Plenty of laughs for everyone!

For a bit of a gauge, this film is somewhat similar to 'The Perfect Crime' (El Crimen Ferpecto), only a wider cast and more controversy.

Definitely give this a watch if you're a fan of Iglesia!

An honest-to-God funny comedy, with interesting characters, several intertwining zany engaging stories, great production, great sound score and even better cast, what else is there to wish for?! It even has a meaningful message! Pop this one in and get ready to cry out laughing!

What do you get when you mix aging narcissist star, rising teen idol and his manic agent, average Joe, butch lesbian TV editor, mad fan, beautiful weird lady, TV host couple in ''The War of the Roses'' episode- over the top glitzy mess while there's riot outside studio! Anarchy at its best, one of the best comedies I've seen.

Alex de la Iglesia is in my opinion the best Spanish director. Even better than Almodovar and Medem.

He made several masterpieces like El Crimen Perfecto (The Perfect Crime), 800 Bullets, Common Wealth, Muertos de risa, Dance with the Devil and The Day of the Beast. But even more recent effort Witching and Bitching (whose first 30 minutes are brilliant) or The Last Circus (a very personal movie) are better and deeper movies that almost anything else released that year.

This time, everything happens during the New Year eve recording in a TV channel. Outside there is a violent riot, and inside a bunch of nutcase characters with many issues; including an ego driven singer (the legendary Raphael) and a young rising star (the excellent Mario Casas).

Many things happen, mostly for humor; sometimes quite violent or sexual related; but at the end what was supposed to be a satire on the TV and felt short and become just a very mad comedy with many high moments and some low ones. In brief; it is not the best Alex de la Iglesia made; but it is worth seeing it.

You are either with the director or you aren't. But if you like fast paced comedy that takes no prisoners, than you are at the right place (no pun intended). This is a comedy that takes you through a whole bunch of emotions and it succeeds on every level. It's funny, it has suspense, there is mystery and there is adult themes running through the whole thing for everyone to enjoy.

The acting is spot on (again no pun intended) and for a one location shoot, his goes places other movies would not dare to take you. The director also takes his wife through the wringer. The wonderful Carmella Bang is wonderful as always, but her character is not as lovable. Which is something that can be said about most of the people in this. It's show business after all ....