Will Ferrell’s ‘Casa’ is far from hospitable

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:23:29 GMT

By Jonathan Reyes/Managing Editor

photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Who would have thought that listening to people speak Spanish would make a feature film humorous? It seems Will Ferrell thought so. Well, Will thought wrong. ‘Casa De Mi Padre’ is unlike any other movie Ferrell has produced or starred in. He speaks telenovela style Spanish and prances around dressed as a cowboy for an hour and a half. The film centers on the Alvarez family, who live in Mexico and run into trouble with a local drug lord. It’s up to Armando Alvarez (Ferrell) to save his family’s ranch from bankruptcy. Armando’s brother, Raul Alvarez (Diego Luna), brings home his fiancé, Sonia (Génesis Rodríguez), to meet the members of the Alvarez family for the first time. Raul is specifically concerned with the approval of his father, Miguel Ernesto Alvarez (Pedro Armendáriz, Jr.), who seems to favor him over Armando. This movie has its moments, but for the most part, it is not worth anyone’s time. What made people sitting around me laugh was not what Ferrell said but how he said it. It seemed that the entire cast would purposely stress out words in ways that naturally enticed viewers to chuckle. With a budget of about $6 million, it’s no surprise that the film contains low production value. Numerous scenes were shot poorly just for comedic effect. Ferrell was seen riding on fake horses in some scenes and attempting to use his toy gun in others. The absolute worst scene involved Ferrell and Rodríguez literally humping each other. I felt like climbing on one of the horses and riding out of the movie theater without looking back. I had the opportunity to sit and interviewing Ferrell, Luna and Rodríguez at the Miami Four Seasons Hotel. Ferrell seemed excited by the film’s release. He described learning to speak Spanish as difficult for him. "Not being a native speaker, it was extremely difficult but the whole concept was my idea so I was happy to do it – those were intense days simply because my translator would show up at my house at six in the morning," said Ferrell. "We would drive for an hour to the set and go over scenes, work all day and drive home together to work on the next day’s lines. It was constant. I wanted to be as authentic as I can be." Luna joked about his preparation strategy for the film. "I was getting ready for this role since I was born," Luna said. "Everything was crazy on the set. I was talking to another guy [Ferrell] that pretended to speak Spanish." Controversial stereotypes of Mexican culture were used throughout the entire film. Supporting characters dying from bullet wounds still managed to chug down alcohol during their last moments. In an interview with Rodríguez, she warned me that these stereotypical situations shouldn’t be taken seriously. "It takes something horrible and makes light of it so people can talk about it, so we can deal with it," she said. "Why would comedy be taken seriously? The film is meant to be taken as a joke." The film has an ‘R’ rating and is striving to exceed its six million dollar budget in ticket sales within the United States. For those folks interested in giving ‘Casa De Mi Padre’ a chance, I would suggest waiting until it comes out on DVD.