Casa de mi Padre

It’s ultimately impossible not to wonder just what director Matt Piedmont and scripter Andrew Steele initially set out to accomplish with Casa de mi Padre, as the film, which is ostensibly a parody of Spanish-language melodramas, comes off as a consistently disastrous and aggressively unwatchable cinematic endurance test that’s sure to leave casual viewers fuming with rage. The intentionally absurd narrative follows hard-working rancher Armando Alvarez (Will Ferrell) as he’s caught up in a love triangle after his brother (Diego Luna’s Raul) returns home with a beautiful fiancée (Genesis Rodriguez) on his arm, with the situation complicated by the increased presence of a feared drug lord known only as The Onza (Gael Garcia Bernal). Filmmaker Piedmont has infused Casa de mi Padre with an intentionally (and persistently) broad sensibility that’s reflected in its myriad of attributes, with the movie’s unapologetically over-the-top atmosphere setting a tone of love-it-or-hate-it divisiveness right off the bat. But given that the novelty of the film’s execution wears off after about three minutes, it seems likely that even the hardiest of viewers will find themselves wondering just what the point of all this is – with the film’s various problems compounded by its pervasive, unconscionable lack of laughs (eg Piedmont, for example, believes that the mere sight of a character smoking two cigarettes at the same time is gut-bustingly hilarious). There’s virtually nothing here that works, from Ferrell’s obnoxious performance to the unpleasant visuals to the slower-than-molasses storyline, and it’s ultimately clear that Casa de mi Padre, which would hardly have worked as a brief Saturday Night Live sketch, stands as the most misguided and flat-out interminable “comedy” to hit theaters in a good long while.

no stars out of ****