Pulling Strings

When a fork in the road sends you down a different path than the one you had planned, what will you do?

Whatever the shortcomings of the film may be, if you give it a chance you don't actually see them. This film in my opinion is masterpiece- 2 stories in 1. A good father that wants to be better. A budding love story in plain sight, but not seen by the two love birds.

Jaime Camil (Alejandro/the dad) is fantastic, and his singing is phenomenal, especially the song he sings to his daughter at her school. Laura Ramsey (Rachel), the embassy worker that is too "by the book" transforms from her cocoon into a butterfly seeing the city, the culture, the people for the 1st time, because of Alejandro. When you open your eyes you'd be amazed at what you will see. Omar Chaparo (Canicas) provides the comic relief needed and does it very well.

What brings them together is a laptop, but what unites them is something Rachel never had. Will she accept? Will she pick Mexico City or London?

I watched it 3 times & each time caught things I'd missed before.

I'm going to keep this short, simple, and straight to the point.

This movie contains romance, comedy, characters you can relate to, and a well written story line. The dialogue is bilingual but no need to worry, the movie comes with subtitles and is well balanced between the 2 languages. It is by far one of the funniest movies I've seen in the past couple of years.

This is a romantic comedy, a genre that I don't generally like and one which I'm very picky and critical of. So for me to say that this movie is great means IT'S FREAKING GREAT! There NEEDS to be MORE movies like this!

Go watch it! I bet anything that you will be laughing throughout the whole movie.

After the death of his wife, a promising singer's career is put on hold as he tries to cope with the loss and take care of his young daughter, Maria. Depressed and not believing he is doing enough for his daughter, Alejandro (Jaime Camil) decides to send her to her grandparents in the United States. Unfortunately when he goes to get a visa at the US Embassy his application is rejected by an unsympathetic embassy employee, Rachel (Laura Ramsey), who meticulously follows the rules for granting visas, leaving Alejandro out in the cold. Bitter, Alejandro blames Rachel, who he complains 'wouldn't even look at him,' for all his troubles.

Rachel, who is about to accept a promotion to a position in London, is shocked when her colleagues throw her a going away party that night. With his career in the dumpster, Alejandro is relegated to playing in a mariachi band, and is shocked when he finds himself playing for Rachel at the going away party. Inspired by the chance meeting he decides he's been given a second chance to get his visa, so he concocts a complicated plan to gain Rachel's favor.

Although Alejandro's scheme is a bit over the top, he takes Rachel on such an enchanting ride that she can't help but rethink her feelings about Mexico and Alejandro. Although Rachel is rather naive for a diplomat, she is refreshingly honest and trusting which paints her as anything but a cold-hearted American. Strong performances by Jaime Camil, Laura Ramsey and Omar Shaparro brought this heart-warming romantic comedy to life and made it a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Would you like a nice date night flick? Look no further than "Pulling Strings"! It's sweet and clever and is a great prelude to a night of good lovin'!

Jaime Camil stars as Alejandro, a professional Mariachi singer living in Mexico City. He knows this isn't the best life, as he's also a widower trying to raise his young daughter, so he wants to visit family in the States and leave his daughter with them. However, his request for a VISA was denied by a US Embassy bureaucrat who barely gave him a chance.

A short time later, this same bureaucrat, Rachel (Laura Ramsey) has been promoted and her coworkers throw a big party for her...complete with a Mariachi band. Well, like you expect in a movie, Alejandro happens to be the singer and during the course of the evening, Rachel gets totally smashed. In fact, when Alejandro leaves the party to go home, he finds her asleep on a bench at a bus stop...definitely not a good idea anywhere but a horrible idea in Mexico City! Alejandro is a good guy and tries to help by calling her a cab. But she is so drunk, he can't even find out where she lives, so he brings her home. When she awakens, she is not surprisingly shocked to find herself in a strange man's apartment...she is also shocked to find that her boss' computer, which he gave her for safekeeping, is missing...and she had it with her at the bus stop! So nice-hearted Alejandro takes her across Mexico City looking for it....and the city is one of the biggest cities in the world! So what's to come of all this? See the film.

This is a highly unusual film because it's not so much a Mexican film with some Americans in it or vice-versa. It's more like an American cast and a Mexican cast being brought together for a movie....and it works very well. Plus, it gives you a nice look at the Mexicans in this mega-city...warts and all. Very sweet, very original and, at times, very romantic. Well worth your time.

Spanish Bilinguals Only: Do you watch movies with subtitles on or off? I often watch movies that Hispanic Filmmakers make and force Luzette Portillo to watch them with me. Usually her choice is Horror films , foreign or domestic, but I love Romantic Comedies so I leave subtitles on so that she can keep up with the plot. It usually distracts me, because I want to read vs listen. So sometimes I feel like I lost something in the translation. Today I took the subtitles off and watched this film as it was recorded. I am so happy I did , because both languages were spoken. I could familiarize with the day to day chores and switching languages back and forth on a whim depending on the place, person or situation I find myself in. This really was a nice surprise. I felt very comfortable watching the film and wonder if Non- Spanish speakers would find it as funny as us who understand Spanish and English. Tom Arnold, Stockard Channing (Rizo, from GREASE) guest star in this hilarious comedy about a Mariachi man wanting to get a VISA to send his daughter to the U.S. It enlightens us who wonder why people take a chance and cut through the red tape of doing it legally. The movie doesn't focus too much on the immigration issue. That makes the film even more delightful to see that not all Mexicans want to be in the U.S. Mexico City does have a big population and they are not all climbing the wall to come here. Hope you take time to watch this movie. The happy ending is not what you would expect and romantic comedies tend to be predictable, this one is not!