Rudo et Cursi

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.

A really funny, refreshing and original Mexican movie.

It is the story of two adult brothers -nicknamed Rudo and Cursi- banana farmers and aficionado soccer players, who, after being discovered by a soccer manager, join the A league but each of them playing in different teams.

I don't like soccer, so I thought that the movie would be a bore, but I was surprised that it did not bore me at all. The story is very well told with great sense of humor and lightness. Even the football scenes were engaging and very entertaining. The many twists and turns of the story, the drama and humor, the national self-deprecation, the passions and hatred of the characters are all presented in a very dynamic, sweet and light way. The movie really flows, has a great atmosphere, great characters and is very enjoyable.

It is a very good Mexican movie about soccer and fame; the plot is fun and the acting is excellent; I highly recommend it.

Well... BEFORE jumping into this Mexican Offering....

FIRST: Let us FOCUS on the Title's Content and Context:

What great expectations I had for this film! And why not? Most of the Mexican films I've seen this year have received a well-deserved 4 Stars! Besides, this film boasts a redux of the pairing of Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, who starred together in "Y Tu Mama También". Remember the great portrayals they rendered in that film? The great on-screen chemistry they exhibited!?!

"RUDO" begins with the title characters as brothers; well, half brothers, anyway, working on a banana plantation in rural Mexico. RUDO started out OK, although most of the funnier bits were rooted in the cultural regional oddities demonstrated in the congenial non-stop string of obscenities and insults the two brothers hurled at each other.

I don't have to read subtitles in Spanish, but for those who do, I would imagine a lot of the humor would be lost because of them, and also because these regional cultural quirks are naturally lost in translation! As RUDO progressed, I increasingly became aware that my expectations were not going to be met. Like genetically engineered bananas...You know, the ones that take forever to ripen!... RUDO was picked too soon and served up green! The movie is funny and amusing, at times, but could have been a hell of a lot better, if everybody hadn't been so forced, if they all hadn't TRIED SO hard...to be funny!

If they ALL hadn't been so stressed, I could have forgiven that RUDO's basic premise revolves around two 30-ish banana ranch worker brothers, who play local soccer on weekends, suddenly becoming the BEST soccer players in all of Mexico! That's a lot of suspension-of-disbelief!

BTW...Don't miss the music video in Special Features...Las chicas Mexicanas try just hard enough! Barely limps in w/6*******.

BUT.... ANYWAYS.... ENJOY! / DIDFRITELA!

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.