Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

aazawadzki This movie had a lot of unsaid desperation festering under the guises of a weekend party. The constant presence of fireworks going off in the background was the score to the film - I kept expecting them to turn into gunshots. Social upheaval among the poor is very much a reality in Mexico, there are so many poor people there, yet there is also a growing middle class - and an immensely wealthy upper class. To be poor but to see wealth all around you - springing up in very fancy malls, nice cars, immaculate hotels - yet to not really be welcome in this part of society - well it can only lead to anger, or to a feeling of impotence and hopelessness. What was interesting was the duality present in the movie - both the wealthy son and the poor maintenance worker shared many of the same emotions throughout the film, especially at the end.The way the people talked at the party - in particular, how they referred to the poor - was really accurate. There is kindness and respect on the surface, but among the upper classes there is this undercurrent of racism that rears its ugly head every now and then. It took courage for a Mexican to make this film. None of the characters are portrayed with much sympathy - they are what they are. Even the maintenance workers and housekeeping staff have faults.The English translation was not that good, then again all of the joking around in the movie is difficult to translate. Regardless, my wife was laughing throughout the movie.I think that there is a seed of greatness in this film which will become more fully realized in this gifted director's future movies.

Richard Schneider I just saw this film at the International Film Festival in Provincetown, Mass., where the audience response was tepid to say the least. In short, the film is an astonishing mess -- plot less, desultory, self-indulgent, full of missed opportunities. The director and star of the movie, Gael Garcia Bernal, was there to talk about the film and answer questions after the showing. Tellingly -- but reassuringly -- he spent most of his time apologizing for the film, which he clearly realized is a disaster. That's the reassuring part: he confided that this was a first effort which started as essentially an "acting experiment" and only later took the form of a feature film. To say that this movie somehow gets at class divisions in Mexico is to give it way too much credit. It's mostly about a bunch of spoiled, nasty rich kids who could just as easily have been dropping pills and whooping it up anywhere in the U.S. or Europe. As for the missed opportunity, the one facet of potential interest in the movie is the main character, who's clearly a troubled young man with secrets and lies in his past. But what are they? Here's a young man with looks and wealth and friends to spare, but there's something about him that the movie isn't telling us. We keep expecting to find out, but alas we never do.

psychobowbie The plot ...??? what plot? Discussing it after its screening last night, my friends and I decided that there was no plot, just some weak sub-plots. They are all over the shop. The race issue is brushed upon but it is not dealt with in any depth. As is said above, I don't mind a film about nothing if at least it is entertaining, but unfortunately this one fails at that too. There seems to just be little incidents with random dialogue in between. It just isn't consistent. Many things are hinted at but most are not fully expressed. I didn't care about what happened to the characters, there was never enough detail for any of them. In the end I felt I'd have enjoyed watching a party I'd filmed on my phone instead. Come on Gael, we know you can do better than that! :)

laurenasmus I think this film was a great 'fly on the wall' experience. It was like the Mexican version of 'KIDS', only not as explicit and depressing.They basically showed what was going on in a young Mexican man's life through a party at his house. But here is the point. The lead character, Cristobal, is upper class and it focused on his interactions with a childhood friend, who is also his family's grounds-keeper/ servant. How often do we see this side of Mexican daily life? This movie evoked more sympathy for the struggle required for a Mexican in his homeland AND abroad.The filmmakers made this movie and put Gael in the drivers seat to show a Mexico that we have never experienced in a film. It takes us from ignorance to appreciation. You see this very trendy/hot-now actor in, what is perhaps, his real environment. Although I am not sure he is that racist, I feel that putting us in his shoes for a bit really makes us take a step back and think twice before judging a huge part of our population that is really making a positive impact here in America.The motive behind making this movie was to show what goes on in Mexico, where they come from. I am a Programmer for a Film Festival, and I have had to watch some really horrible stuff. For me, this was a breath of fresh air. More of a learning experience.Thanks, L