Casa de Mi Padre (2012) - Will Ferrell's weird, funny Mexican movie

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+ Silliest Movie of the Year

The retro-styled poster for Matt Piedmont's Casa de Mi Padre

Two Mexican brothers, one a successful drug dealer, the other a gullible, goodhearted moron, duel against villains, - some very very bad guys...!

The plot of Casa de Mi Padre is fast forgotten, to put it mildly. The film is a weird, Spanish-language western comedy that spoofs Mexican telenovelas, and for those who are game for it, it's a lot of fun. It is a campy patchwork of genres mixing and references (to films like The Wild Bunch (1969), El Mariachi (1992) and Mexican stuff that's unfamiliar to most audiences who aren't Mexican.) It blends old with new in deliberately crappy sets and effects, which makes it funny in a kind of obscure way. Besides Will Ferrell (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)), who learned his Spanish for the film in a month and is surprisingly good as a Mexican, Gael Garcia Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)) as the villain and Efren Ramirez (Napoleon Dynamite (2004)) and Adrian Martinez (American Hustle (2013)) as Ferrell's friends are all funny.
Casa de Mi Padre is written by Andrew Steele (A Deadly Adoption (2015)) and Eva Maria Peters (Antikiller 2: Antiterror (2003)) and directed by Matt Piedmont (The Spoils of Babylon (2014), TV mini-series). - It's weird! - And fun!

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2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 6 mil. $
Box office: 8 mil. $
= Huge flop
[The film was shot in 24 days, and it premiered on 382 screens to a 2.2 mil. $ opening weekend in North America, where it grossed 5.9 mil. $ (74 % of the total gross) in its two month run. It did not play in many other countries, and Mexico was the biggest secondary market with a 2.4 mil. $ gross. The film reportedly spend 8 mil. $ on marketing, which is after the 6 mil. $ production budget. In this light, the film's commercial failure is much steeper.]

What do you think of Casa de Mi Padre?

The Villain/Cactus Jack (1979) or, The Wackadoodle West!

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The cartoon-style western poster for Hal Needham's The Villain

QUICK REVIEW:

Arnold Schwarzenegger (Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)) is Handsome Stranger, who has to help Miss Charming with a money transport, while Cactus Jack fights "Indians" and tries to get the money!

Kirk Douglas (Spartacus (1960)) really does what he can in the title role of this slapstick western spoof by legendary stunt-man/director Hal Needham (Smokey and the Bandit (1977)). Schwarzenegger is odd and looks hilariously clueless in his campy cowboy-outfit. The film is mostly pretty bad; forced and weird. Very little gets introduced or explained. The flirt between Arnold and Swedish Ann Margret (Grumpy Old Men (1993)) is charmless and without legs.
Made three years before Schwarzenegger's breakthrough (Conan the Barbarian (1982)), this film is interesting mostly as movie curio. It was released in the US as The Villain and in the UK and Australia as Cactus Jack. Its Looney Tunes/Blazing Saddles (1974))-inspired crazy comedy falls through, while the overly instructive music keeps on telling us that it's all just gaga fun.
- A few of the Indian scenes, with Paul Lynde (Bewitched (1965-71)), - whose last acting credit this was, - as Indian chief 'Nervous Elk', are admittedly funny. You can see one of them in the clip below.

Ann Margret and Kirk Douglas in Hal Needham's The Villain

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Hal Needham's The Villain

This is also the film in which Kirk Douglas does this

... and this

Watch a 2-minute clip with Ann-Margret, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Paul Lynde as the Indian chief from the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown

What do you think of The Villain?
And Needham's directorial brand of low-brow entertainment?

Blazing Sadles (1974) or, The Black Sheriff of Rock Ridge

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Gene Wilder, Cleavon Little, Madeline Kahn and Mel Brooks himself on this poster for his Blazing Saddles

Black Bart is made sheriff in Rock Ridge, and together with the man who used to be the Waco Kid, he achieves popularity among the residents and beats the evil governor.

Blazing Saddles is a really racy, full speed ahead crazy comedy/western spoof, and perhaps the best absurd-anarchistic movie ever made. Its humor is zany, crazy, low and high brow in its mix of fart jokes (the first in a major American studio movie) with racial and cultural themes. It really holds no punches, which feels liberating, because its attacks on all kinds of hypocrisy and bigotry help to break these down. Its approach and style is so different from what was normal in comedies at the time that it takes a minute to get into its eccentric groove.

Cleavon Little shines in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles

It is all accomplished with style and class: Cleavon Little (Vanishing Point (1971)) with the vivacious, sparkling eyes is fun and hot as the sheriff, and Madeline Kahn (Young Frankenstein (1974)) is wonderful in her Marlene Dietrich-parody, with her I'm Tired song routine maybe the year's best (and funniest) movie song.
The film is one of the best by co-writer-director Mel Brooks (The Producers (1967)), who recently voiced Albert Einstein in DreamWorks' Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014).
Saddles is simply one of the funniest, best comedies of all time. Period.

Cleavon Little and his pal Gene Wilder on another poster for Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles

Watch the trailer for the film here, - and then watch the movie!

Budget: 2.6 mil. $
Box office: 119.5 mil. $
= Blockbuster

What do you think of Blazing Saddles?
Any other Cleavon Little-performances that you remember?
Or similarly zany, hilarious comedies?