Balas & Bolinhos: O Último Capítulo

In spite of this third chapter of the series (I guess we can call it a series yet!) is called "the last chapter" I hope this won't be in fact the last one. First because it's getting better from movie to movie, second because it's also getting more audiences and third because it makes you laugh as just a few can do here in Portugal, and I'm not talking just about cinema...

The humor is crude and always based in foul and slang language but it's funny as hell and it's well done. The characters are now (by this third chapter) more connected and we know them better, what makes you understand better their attitudes and laugh with their silly actions. Especially RATO and BINO are priceless! The first one by what he says, the second one by what he does...

The production is very good especially if we take in consideration it is a low cost Portuguese film (even so we note it must have been much more expensive than the previous two, as it has better special effects) and even the action scenes are not bad.

We can say it's a action/comedy movie as we don't often use to see in Portuguese cinema!

The long awaited sequel has finally arrived. This series of movies has always contained characters so insane that if a different director worked them no one would believe. However, they are merely caricatures of many who try to live on the same cons as them, and they do it such a way that it becomes hilarious. This particular movie is an actual action flick, I think the first in Portuguese film-making history, and may very well dictate a new era of the Portuguese cinema. The very own making of this movie was a "challenge" from the beginning and a risky bet, just by being different from the usual "artistic" Portuguese flick, with close ups on coffee cups for 15 seconds, horrible sound and senseless sex scenes. It was a daring move that worked out just fine. The box-office response was a blast on the previous one, and this one seems to be following the same path. The foul language just flies on this one, seeming perhaps a bit exaggerated and could, as I see it, have been lessened a bit. Still, it merely portrays a small town, lower class language, whose "dirty" expressions are recurrent and largely contribute for the hilariousness of the movie. In a nutshell, this movie deserves the attention of the viewers, not only for it's daring characteristics but also for the fact that it is fun-as-hell and in such sad troubling times, it's preposterous humor will brighten your days every time you think of it.

Best movie I watched in a real long time. I laughed really hard from the beginning to the end! Although it uses foul language, it is really fun to watch. Funny jokes and situations. The movie is the best of 3. Much improved production. Invited actors are great. Best movie I watched in a real long time. I laughed really hard from the beginning to the end! Although it uses foul language, it is really fun to watch. Funny jokes and situations. The movie is the best of 3. Much improved production. Invited actors are great. Best movie I watched in a real long time. I laughed really hard from the beginning to the end! Although it uses foul language, it is really fun to watch. Funny jokes and situations. The movie is the best of 3. Much improved production. Invited actors are great.

Well this is the end of the trilogy, but make no mistake, it is by far the best of the three. In fact it is the first one that can be called a real movie. Editing wise it exceeded what I was expecting. They really put a lot of work into the movie. The story itself is quite silly but if you have seen the previous movies you know the story is the least important. For a sometimes crude and abusive dialog you find comedy pearls which I loved. Also expect car chases and karate scenes. There are plenty of familiar faces cameos with a note for Meneses for his funny stuff. But the show stealer is Rato, the hilarious guy dumb as a rock. I laughed hard at the pi** in the desert part!

Bottom line it was not perfect but it really made us laugh and that worths the ticket itself... Go see it now! Revive Portuguese cinema!

First off: the Portuguese, we have this tendency to validate our own cultural products in relation to everyone else's, and then pull out the little "size proportion" disclaimer when found lacking. Allow me to explain.

This movie is more fun than funny... by which I mean that it is evident, watching it, that it is a labour of love, the people involved (actors and technical team are one and the same) were having a lot of fun all the way, and it shows. I found myself laughing at (imagined) instances during filming, as I am sure the cast and crew did. It's contagious. But that does tell how much the immersion sense is lacking, when you picture yourself behind the scenes rather than inside them.

The gradually improved technical level of the series only accentuates the fact that almost none of the actors are professional. The delivery is poorly timed and contrived, and a movie so dependent on dialogue truly suffers for it. It does work though, marginally, taking itself just serious enough to make the "so bad that it's good" aesthetic kick in.

Without said aesthetic to mask it, the film's greatest fault would be just too obvious to excuse: it is just not that well written. The unwillingly funny delivery is much funnier than the jokes themselves. There are funny lines being dropped often, even a handful of gems, but on the whole, if I had to read the script, I don't think my face would go much farther from deadpan than the occasional chuckle.

This is the type of low-brow potty humour that is well appreciated in the north of the country, regional rivalry be excused for the sake of honesty. This is more for fans of Fernando Rocha than for people who understand why he is not a true stand-up comedian. That's absolutely fine, I myself can't avoid guffawing when someone gets kicked in the nuts so who am I to judge?

My complaint is not that the humour is not refined (god no)... it just isn't that good either. This is no Bruno or Pink Flamingos. Unless you find the mere utterance of a swear word, by itself, be hilarious. Not the judicious use of profanity to add dimension to a characters dialogue. No. It is expect that someone saying "fu&k" would provoke a hearty minute of laughter.

If you are that guy, the one who never misses a Fernando Rocha set, who found Gel's more recent catchphrase-based work to be groundbreaking, if you like João Paulo Rodrigues' brand of accent-derived comedy, you will no doubt love this film (and series). In fact, it is likely that this will be the greatest movie you'll ever see in your life, ever. The movie does manage to capture that uniquely Portuguese subset of humour, its flaws and limitations actually adding to that aspect of it.

For that fact this otherwise mediocre movie deserves a bump in rating from this reviewer. Well, that and the "smurf family in the woods" line, that s#it cracked me up!