La familia perfecta

The beginning was promising. It seemed the classical clash of classes with comical situations. Then the movie becomes a complete nonsense with many plotholes. The character Lucía evolves from comical to completely illogical.

In the end, it is more a movie about the evolution of the character of Lucía. The writers tried to disguise the movie as a comedy. However, the result is bad as comedy and bad as a movie about the evolution of Lucía.

My rate is 2, not 1 just because of the acting of José Coronado.

Basically it's an easy comedy, not pretentious, nothing new in the horizon.

The film is supported on typical characters, do we really behave like clowns in real life? Honestly, life could be hard enough to face it every time like a raw storm of conflicts, but is this the best way to explore the plot that they offer?

I respect the acting work and the massive effort that represents filming. Please, pay better to the writers and get better scripts.

Everything is justified, that's for sure. Each character evolves due to a renewed life. What I dislike is the clowny stuff.

Yes, Lucia gets better. Yes, Ernesto gets what he deserves. Bravo, Amparo! More women empowered like you. Kill Miguel, please. Sara and Pablo, I cannot believe your love story.

Anyway, if you like popcorn, bring your bucket.

Belén Rueda plays Lucía, a middle-aged, upper-class woman who believes she leads a model life and has a perfect family, with a wealthy husband (Gonzalo de Castro) and an obedient, lawyer son (Alfonso Ramos). But everything falls apart when she meets her son's girlfriend (Carolina Yuste) and her family, leaving her to question what a perfect family really is. When she meets her potential future relatives, a lower-class family, her world changes, since they are not at all what she imagined for him. Things take a turn for the worse when she has a romantic encounter with the girlfriend's father, Miguel (José Coronado).

The second feature film by director Arantxa Echevarria after the multi-awarded "Carmen y Lola", which also stars Carolina Yuste. A star-studded cast led by Belén Rueda, José Coronado and Gonzalo de Castro in a story with brief dramatic touches, full of entaglements, plot twists, misunderstandings, snobs, 'chonis', and a slap in the face of personal, family and social reality. The main starring is Belén Rueda , who gives a decent acting as the perfectionist, narcissistic and domineering mother who hides, beneath her haughty facade, a deep insecurity. Belén continues to prove herself one of the best actresses in Spain, with each film she appears in -although somewhat older, already in her sixties- , but she is capable of displaying great versatility, knowing how to give each role her innate elegance and utmost talent. Belén is an expert actress in mystery and horror movies, although she has not ruled out other genres, such as comedy, as demonstrates in this one "The perfect family". She has starred in blockbuster films such as: "Los ojos de Julia (Julia's eyes)", "El Orfanato ( The orphanage), "Durante la tormenta", "El Pacto (The pacto), "El cuaderno de Sara (Sarah's notebook)", "Órbita 9", "No Dormirás", "The Body (The body)" or recent, "Caída Libre (Free fall)". The movie also features performances by Gonzalo Ramos, Pepa Arniote, and, of course, Carolina Yuste, recent Goya winner for her acting in "La infiltrada".

The motion picture was professionally directed by Arantxa Echevarria, although it has some falls in rhythm, and the comic situations that arise are hampared by being too artificial, lacking spontaneity. Arantxa has also directed "Carmen y Lola", "Chinas", "Politically incorrect" and the multi-Goya winning film "La infiltrada", alongside her favorite actress Carolina Yuste. Score: 5,5/10. Acceptable and passable movie, recommeded for fans of Belén Rueda, José Coronado and Carolina Yuste.

Movie builds on a time tested idea of two worlds colliding, where people from different backgrounds start to date and their respective families are very different. It was done with race, religion, culture and of course class.

So here we have a man from a well-off family dating a woman from working class. Prim and proper vs rough around the edges and no filter.

Entire thing is mostly predictable in the first half, but then movie takes a turn and moves away from goofy comedy into more "finding yourself" territory as parents start to interact and their outlooks start to rub on each other.

Some people would see that as false advertising and not what they wanted, but I think it's kind of neat as jokes based on initial premise start to wear a bit thin.

Good enough movie to kill an evening and then quickly forget about.

This is a fun Spanish comedy.

Too bad the cute son/fiance can't control his face and he over acts with it - like a spoiled 9 year old.

The ending is a kicker and, frankly, worth the watch. We can all take a lesson or two from it.

Enjoy!