Mi gran noche

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!

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.

"My Big Night" from 2015 is a very funny Spanish film about the attempts to tape a New Years Eve program. Outside there are dozens and dozens of angry protesters due to a recent firing of 500 people at the studio. When part of the set falls on an extra, another one, Jose (Pepon Nieto) is called in just as his sister is en route to Disneyland and he has to take care of his mother. The woman (Bianca Suarez) he is sitting next to throws herself at him, but he's warned she's some sort of a jinx.

The rest of the extras have been there forever and some have formed romantic attachments. Meanwhile backstage teen idol Adanne (Mario Casas) is having some romantic attachments of his own, one from a woman who steals his semen as part of a blackmail plot. Another, over the hill super divo Alphonso (Raphael), is torturing his assistant, who turns out to be his adoptive son Yuri, with demands. Little does Alphonse know, but Yuri has brought in a hit man - a disgruntled fan - to get rid of Alphonse once and for all. During a sound check, the hit man stands in for Alphonse, as he knows every word of the song. Then Jose gets a call - his mother has set fire to the apartment building where she lives with her daughter, and the police deliver her to the set.

All of this, combined with the hilarious musical numbers, makes for a very funny movie with some wild performances, particularly from Raphael and Mario Casas. I have seen some of these variety shows done in Spain and Italy, and they are enormous productions done on huge sound stages.

I love these chaotic comedy films, and this one was a lot of fun. Highly recommended.

'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!

This film is a hilarious, well shot, glorious mix of every kind of mayhem you can imagine. Super over the top, yet full of endearing moments and an attention to detail that blew me away. I loved it! One of the better Alex de la Iglesia films.