Doomblade

This is indeed a very funny Spanish comedy, with good acting by all the leads, a solid script boasting plenty of amusing situations and dialogues that never become too over- the-top or superficial, and some beautiful shots of both País Vasco (Basque Country) and Andalucía (Andalusia).

A word of warning, though: This film plays with local accents and stereotypes, current and past Spanish politics, and memes that you will have to be familiar with ahead of time to understand the gags. It is also heavily reliant on how Spaniards envision Basques, thus limiting its comedic effect to Spanish audiences (or at the very least, people familiar with the aforementioned themes).

I, being a Spaniard, had no problem having fun with this film. As enjoyable as it was, however, I can't help but find it undeserving of being the most successful film at the Spanish Box Office of all time, considering all the great cinema and the superior films this country has created in the past. But perhaps it's not so much the quality but the timing of this film that has led to its success: This film makes you laugh and sends a message of unity and love despite our differences. This may just be what Spaniards need in such hard times.

In Spain, this film was released under the title 'La Gran Estafa Americana', which translates to 'The Great American Fraud', and that's exactly how I felt about it upon leaving the theatre.

10 Oscar nominations for a film that gets boring 1 hour in, is at least 30 minutes too long, and presents us with characters, dialogues and plot events that are trying way too hard to come across as complex and intriguing, but that instead end up feeling irritatingly empty, superficial, unrealistic, and plain boring.

And as if this weren't enough, we get over-the-top performances by pretty much the entire cast (which is admittedly great, at least on paper), and excessive hype surrounding Bale's physical transformation for the role, which is not only completely redundant in terms of plot, but is far less impressive than what he has us accustomed to (if you don't understand what I mean, watch 'The Machinist' and then see him in the film he shot literally 6 months later, 'Batman Begins').

What exactly was all the hype about? And the excellent critic reviews? And the award nominations? A real disappointment of a film, especially after O. Russell's solid 'The Fighter' and excellent 'Silver Linings Playbook'.