Los 2 lados de la cama

I found EL OTRO LADO DE LA CAMA a very funny movie. I also enjoyed DÍAS DE FÚTBOL. So, I had great expectations about LOS DOS LADOS DE LA CAMA. Unfortunately, this sequel is not half as good as the original one. The musical numbers are still watchable but they are not surprising anymore. The gags involving Toledo and Alterio are still laughable but a bit tiring because they become very repetitive. Esteve and San Juan's presence in the film is only justified in a kind of reprise of the previous one. In spite of claims made by director Martínez Lázaro to the Spanish media during the last weeks, the audience will miss Paz Vega and Natalia Verbeke, because Lucía Jimémez and Verónica Sánchez's characters are not interesting enough, and their performances can't make us forget that witty and charming Vega and Verbeke.

LOS DOS LADOS DE LA CAMA is a sequel, with all the negative stuff that it carries. It doesn't give any new points of view (despite the shocking ending) or memorable secuences for Spanish comedy History.

It's only a relatively well done film (Martínez Lázaro has always been a fine director) to avoid a boring evening, but has nothing special to be remembered. A real pity, if we consider how hilarious and unforgettable the original movie was.

This follow-up to ¨El Otro Lado De La Cama¨ movie , a Spanish blockbuster , that was a huge box office success earlier ; this sequel turns out to be an amusing picture packing twisted relationships , comedy , dances with intense sensuality and including agreeable melodies . It is a funny picture dealing with couple relationships , jealousy , lies , family conflicts and many other things . Three years have passed and the boys seem to have matured . Javier (Ernesto Alterio) is going to marry gorgeous Marta (Verónica Sánchez) and Pedro (Guillermo ¨Willy¨ Toledo) is really happy and very much in love with his new sweetheart , enticing Raquel (Lucia Jimenez) . The Cabman Rafa (Alberto San Juan) has also found love with sympathetic Pilar (Maria Esteve , Marisol's daughter) , who loves him too and treats him in a very special way . It can seem that everything is alright in their existences . However , Marta and Raquel have different aims that will put their relationship with their boyfriends in danger and both of whom are being unfaithful to their fiancés . Even Pilar has got a secret lover who results to be Rafa's best friend (Secun De La Rosa) . But that's not all: a new girl , attractive Carlota (Pilar Castro) , appears in Javier and Pedro's lives and both of them fall in love for her .

Romantic Spanish comedy with good actors , spectacular musical numbers singing charming songs , and nice direction . A film rich in troublesome loving stories , where love is the central theme seen from various points of view . This is an agreeable as well as uneven comedy in less than 105 minutes of length and yet with an air of naturalness and credibility rarely match . The best parts of the movie are the choreographic numbers and known songs adapted in original model with roots in pop music of the eighties ; recreating the essence of the classic songs by body movements accompanying sensual melodies and lyrics . This is an enjoyable musical comedy including love stories in which there is lesbianism , homosexuality , threesome , as well as the ordinary Spanish clichés . Colorful story of loves and jealousy in which predominates songs and musical spectacle . It has some moments of enjoyment as well as amusement and others quite a few embarrassing . Regular and unbalanced , but gaining the sympathy almost at all times . Bad timing results to be the voice of the singers with the actors , it is less achieved . Main actors as Ernesto Alterio , Verónica Sánchez , Lucia Jimenez steal the show , interpreters who provided a considerable boost to the result . All of them play and dance wonderful and classic Spanish songs such as ¨Quiero Un Camion¨, ¨A Quien Le Importa¨ , ¨Dejame Ya No Tiene Sentido¨ , ¨Como Pudiste Hacerme Eso¨, ¨Ni Tu Ni Nadie¨, ¨Jeanette's Porque Sera¨, ¨Por Las Noches ¨ , ¨Quiero Besarte¨, ¨Gavilan Y Paloma¨ from known bands and singers as Pablo Abraira , Mecano , Los Secretos , Radio Futura , Nacha Pop and many others .

Furthermore , dances and choreography by Paco Berdayas are pretty well , following Emilio Martinez Lazaro's ¨El Otro Lado De La Cama" style "Scandalous" or ¨¿ Porque Se Frotan Patitas ¿¨ (2006) by Alvaro Begines and François Ozon' ¨Potiche¨ and ¨Eight Women¨ . Glamorous and colorful cinematography by Juan Molina . "The 2 Sides of the Bed" was originally written and professionally directed by Emilio Martínez Lázaro . He was born in 1945 in Madrid , location in which he often shoots his films . He is a Spanish prestigious cinema director . Emilio is a director and writer, a good filmmaker expert on comedies as he has proved in : Los Peores Años De Nuestra Vida (1994) , El Juego Más Divertido (1998) and Amo Tu Cama Rica (1992) , drama : Las 13 Rosas (2007) La Voz De Su Amo (2001) , Musical as : ¨Al Otro Lado De La Cama¨ (2002) starred by Ernesto Alterio , Paz Vega , Natalia Verbeke , Guillermo Toledo , Ramón Barea , Alberto San Juan , María Esteve Nathalie Poza , Secun de la Rosa , and ¨Los Dos Lados De La Cama¨ (2005) . Being especially known for this ¨8 Apellidos Vascos¨or "Spanish Affair" considered to be the biggest box office in Spanish cinema and he is nowadays shooting ¨8 Apellidos Vascos 2¨ .

After watching the surprisingly good EL OTRO LADO DE LA CAMA, I expected its second part to be good, but, as usual in sequels is much worse than the first part. Thre years have passed since the first part and pairs are, at last, stable and they are going to marry. The arriving of a new girl to the group will change everything. Most of the time the film results a bit boring, as most of the jokes are bad or repetitive; and the actors are not as inspired as the other film. The plot is too much simple and it is not large enough to need 90 minutes to be told, which makes the film a little boring. On the other hand, the film has two memorable scenes that are absolutely spectacular and makes the pain of seeing the film a not-so-bad exercise. The soundtrack, anyway is spectacular, with most of the best Spanish songs of the las 30 years.

This movie was a huge box office success earlier this year in Spain, and given that success, I expected a little more out of it.

There were some very funny moments and the songs featured were great as they were all Spanish hit songs from the last few decades. All the songs were performed by the actors themselves. But I was disappointed by the plot, there just was not enough meat to fill the 108 min and the ending seemed unrealistic. It dragged a little too long and could have been cut 20 minutes shorter.

I have not seen the other movie EL OTRO LADO DE LA CAMA but I hear it was very good and much better than this one.

This is the second part of the successful 'Al otro lado de la cama'. Only two main characters have changed, now played by Vero Sanchez y Lucia Jimenez while before we had Paz Vega and Natalia Verbeke, and the structure is quite similar to the first one: 3 girls, actually 4,(the previous two plus Maria Esteve and Pilar Castro) and 3 guys (Willy Toledo, Ernesto Alterio y Alberto San Juan) in their thirties living in nice apartments in Madrid and having their love and sexual life entangled. This of course together with nice Latin (mostly from Spain) music performed by the actors.

To me the movie achieves its goal as a soft comedy directed to Spanish people in their thirties who can relate easily to the music they perform and also to some of the problems they face. However, it does not deviate at all from the structure of the previous one although now the relations between the couples are a bit different, and that means it is essentially the same movie with slightly different actors and situations.

Another point I would like to stress, and it is more of a complain to the script: why do the laughing lines fall into the guys? Can't the girls have also some good lines in this comedy? Come on, Veronica Sanchez and Lucia Jimenez deserved some comedy as well, I want to laugh with Spanish actresses in the same way I did with Carol Lombard in "To be or not to be"!. In this movie, all the "good" comedy lines are for the guys, which are OK in their roles (very similar, if not exactly the same, as in the previous one) and none for any of the girls (except a bit for Maria Esteve and Pilar Castro) which act in a way as simple beautiful filling in this comedy. Can't we have beautiful actresses who can make us laugh? Please, let's write better comedy scripts for these very talented bunch of girls!!

In any case the movie is worth seeing on a Sunday afternoon!