Comedy

Richard "Cheech" Marin, of Cheech & Chong fame, directed and starred in Born in East L.A.. Inspired by Marin's music-video parody of Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", the film casts Cheech as an East Los Angeles repairman. While paying a visit to a sweatshop toy factory, Cheech is caught in the middle when the feds raid the place and cart off all the illegal alien workers. Since he's forgotten to bring his own i.d., Cheech is also shipped off to Mexico-where, having next to no knowledge of the Spanish tongue, he's virtually helpless. Desperate, he takes a job with crooked Tijuana saloon owner Daniel Stern-the first of many "make-do" jobs that he assumes to earn enough money to return home. Along the way, he falls in love with El Salvadorian girl Kamala Lopez, whose English is as fractured as Cheech's Spanish. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An innocent man's dreams of a beautiful princess get him into trouble. ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi

This undistinguished comedy is about twin sisters separated at birth, one grows up in poverty in a rural village, and the other goes on to fame and fortune as a sophisticated singer and dancer. Juana (Maria Elena Velasco, also the director and writer) is taken by her father after she was born to be raised in a remote Mexican village, while Chana (also Velasco) grows up in Mexico City where she gets to meet the celebrated Spanish singer Pilar del Rio (Carmen Montejo) because her mother works for Pilar. After the mother dies, Chana is adopted by the singer and moves to Spain, where she also learns to sing and dance. When Pilar decides to go on a tour that includes Mexico, Chana and her long-separated twin finally have a chance to meet again. But there is no guarantee that everything will go smoothly, since the gap between them is so vast, and on top of that, Chana's irate ex-husband is unaware that she has a look-alike twin -- and he kidnaps the wrong woman. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

An Acapulco smuggling ring pursues an inept comedian-turned-detective. ~ John Bush, Rovi

The Mexican comedy El Circo De Capulina follows the adventures of a man who takes up a job with the circus in order to reacquire territory for his niece. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

A taxi driver and a failed actor accept an underworld job that could make them rich in this madcap crime comedy from director Antonio del Real. Down-on-his-luck Augusto drives a cab for a living, and his best friend, Julio, just can't seem to land any good roles. When a local crime kingpin offers the pair one million euros to execute a daring crime, Augusto and Julio eagerly accept. With Augusto's senile father-in-law, a beautiful hooker, and the girl of Julio's dreams along for the ride, Augusto and Julio must carry out their mission before a vengeful group of local drug dealers catchs wind of the plan and puts the pair out of business permanently. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A man discovers the lighter side of being hunted down like an animal in this manic comedy. Pestario "Pest" Vargas (John Leguizamo) is a low-rent con man from Miami's South Beach who has fallen deeply in debt to ill-tempered members of the Scottish mafia (complete with kilts). Desperate to raise $50,000 to stave off having his legs broken (and possibly turned into haggis), Vargas takes an offer for a very high paying one day job from Gustav Shank (Jeffrey Jones), a German businessman visiting Florida. However, it's not until later that Vargas finds out what Shank has in mind. The lunatic white supremacist Shank transports Vargas to his island compound, Little Germany, and announces that he will hunt him as wild game. If Vargas can survive for 24 hours, he gets the cash; otherwise, his head will join the others stuffed and mounted on Shank's wall. Can Vargas' speed, agility, and gift for cheesy impersonations save him now? John Leguizamo co-wrote The Pest's original story, loosely based on the classic adventure tale The Most Dangerous Game. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This deliberately broad and overwrought gay-themed comedy-drama concerns a handful of young Hispanics living in Brooklyn whose myriad sexual obsessions are matched only by their fascination with the "telenovela" (Latin-American soap opera) Dos Vidas. Justin (Irwin Ossa) is a mild-mannered assistant to a photographer who specializes in Hispanic beefcake with campy flourishes. Justin is strongly attracted to his cousin Angel (John Bryant Davila), who has arrived in town to do some photo sessions with his boss, but while Justin is tentatively out of the closet, Angel wavers between the gay and straight worlds, and he sets his sights on Andrea (Jenifer Lee Simard), a flamboyantly sexy woman whom he meets at a dance club. Braulio (Alexis Artiles), Andrea's closest friend, is involved with Carlos (Mike Ruiz), who is flagrantly unfaithful and doesn't put much stock in safe sex. Carlos puts the moves on Justin, who reluctantly succumbs to his advances, but when Brauilo learns of Carlos' latest infidelity, he finds himself drawn into the tales of jealousy and revenge from Dos Vidas and is driven to violent retribution against his lover. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Gerardo Chijona directs this screwball comedy hailing from Cuba. Macho truck driver Candido (Enrique Molina) forbids his drop-dead gorgeous daughter Sissy (Thais Valdes) to become a dancer at Havana's hippest club, the Tropicana, though she does so anyway. On the job, Candido accidentally smashes into hunky biker Sergito (Vladimir Cruz) who has a star-shaped mole on his butt, just like Candido. Out of guilt, he brings Sergito home to recuperate. Though Sissy is more than delighted at having this injured Adonis lollygagging about the house, Candido's buddy Promedio (Litico Rodriguez) fears a potential sexual encounter. As all of this is going on, Candido's arch-nemesis Armando (Santiago Alfonso), a choreographer at the Tropicana, tries to strike vengeance by seducing Sissy. When she rebuffs the creep, she is demoted to chorus girl. As the film progresses, subplots are layered upon subplots until the film's delirious denouement. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Two families try to make the best of a bad situation as they suffer through a crippling heat wave in this neo-realistic drama, featuring a primarily non-professional cast. Tali (Mercedes Moran) is minding four small children with little help from her husband, who is preoccupied with the opening of hunting season, as a record hot spell grips Argentina. Things aren't much better for her cousin Mecha (Graciela Borges), who is looking after four teenagers and a husband (Martin Adjemian) who can hardly be bothered to help out, but Mecha does have a pool, even if it hasn't been cleaned in quite a while. Tali and her brood end up spending much of the summer with Mecha as the town is riveted by the appearance of the Virgin Carmen on the city's water tower, and a series of thunderstorms add an awful humidity to the summer's unbearable heat. While seemingly improvised, La Cienaga was actually carefully scripted by Lucrecia Martel, who won a screenwriting award at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival prior to making her directorial debut with this feature. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A thief discovers that crime runs in the family in this playfully dark comedy from Mexico. Inaki (Daniel Guzman) is a petty thief who makes his way pulling stickups with an elderly partner in crime (Francisco Rabal). The old man dies in the midst of a robbery, which attracts more police attention than Inaki is used to, and he flees to Mexico until things cool down. In Guadalajara, Inaki finds himself crossing paths with Patxi (Kandido Uranga), his father, with whom Inaki hasn't always been on good terms. Patxi and his brother, El Caiman (Rafael Velasco), live in a rooming house run by a cheerful drag queen, Aunt Carmen (Roberto Espejo). Inaki soon moves in as well, and begins dating Aunt Carmen's niece, Anita (Sara Ruiz), which pleases Carmen as he's certain Inaki is going to be a doctor some day. Patxi and El Caiman, however, have a different estimation of Inaki's talents; Caiman knows about his nephew's criminal career, and he'd like Inaki and Patxi to help with a bank robbery he wants to pull, in order to finance the upscale nightclub he's long dreamed of opening. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

One of the nicest aspects of Mexican films from the 1930's through the 1960's is how much they borrow from Hollywood cinema of the same era. Las Interesadas is a perfect example, a musical-comedy of the type that, with color shooting and a slightly less comedic script, could have been made with June Allyson, Betty Hutton, Doris Day, or Lucille Ball during the late 1940's. Three women (Amalia Aguilar, Lilia Prado, Lilia Del Valle), all aspiring performers who are tired of being abused in their work and private lives, join forces to try and find success together. They are almost distracted from their goal when they accidentally injure a stranger (Manolo-Fabregas) with their car and have to care for him, which means that they have to go out and find regular jobs. In a manner reminiscent of any number of plots on I Love Lucy, as well as numerous movies, it turns out that none of them is suited to the job she's taken and they are close to being evicted; taking in an apparently homeless man (Roberto Font) doesn't help their situation. At the last moment, however, they are rescued when it turns out that the man they thought was homeless was a disillusioned millionaire, who sets the three women up in their own lavish stage review, where they succeed after overcoming the jealousies that have built up during their time together. Cuban-born Amalia Aguilar is the sparkplug of the trio, an enchanting mambo dancer and actress who is something of a cross between Charo in her looks and Lucille Ball or Joan Davis (or Kirstie Alley in modern terms) in her approach to comedy; Lilia Prado and Lilia Del Valle are also engaging in their roles, as well. Some viewers will find some of the audio gags on the soundtrack a bit silly, and the plot simplistic and improbable, but Las Interesadas is also a fascinating homage to Hollywood, ending with some surprisingly elaborate mambo and modern dance numbers featuring each of the three performers. The fact that these numbers, and the score for the movie, were all written by renowned mambo and dance-band leader Perez Prado gives Las Interesadas added interest even for non-Spanish speaking viewers with memories of the Mambo King's musical triumphs in the United States during the 1940's and 1950's. The lushness of the dance numbers may surprise those who only associate the bandleader with numbers like "Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White." The quality of the music, the comedic talents of the actresses, and the script's attempts at a knowing, self-conscious brand of humor over its plot make one wonder how much a director like, say, Frank Tashlin, with a large budget to work with, might have made out of these same elements. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi