¨El hotel de los líos. García y García 2¨(2023) is a fun sequel of ¨García y García¨ (2021) that dealt with the two Javier Garcías get confused and exchange roles: Javier García, an unemployed mechanic, must design a low-cost strategy and prepares a new economic line for the company in order to get out of the financial crisis. And Javier García, international advisor, has to carry out plane mechanics. Both face their tasks, until a nutty chase along the airport runways decides their fates at the last moment. In ¨The Hotel of Troubles, García y García 2¨ (2023) by Ana Murugarren herself stars again José Mota, Pepe Viyuela along with Paz Padilla, Meteora Fontana, Mikel Losada, Antonio Resines. After taking over a run-down hotel, bought by mistake at an auction for an exorbitant price, the two Javier Garcías (José Mota, Pepe Viyuela) live a new adventure, helped this time, much to their regret, by a group of gifted children who are staying at the hotel to attend the National Talent Final. Together with their explosive teacher, Martina (Paz Padilla) , the children will face the mobster Benito Camarena (Mikel Losada) , who with his henchmen - his mother (Meteora Fontana) and brother- will try to snatch from the Garcías the loot hidden in the hotel, the former lair of criminals.
One of those films that forces us to make an effort of maximum frankness when writing about it, and to balance two facts that may seem contradictory: we cannot forget that there were moments in which some laughter arose so irrepressible and ferocious that they'll have you on the edge of your seat, you can't help but see that this is a film, let's say, not good, or very much room for improvement, in the sense that its script, the treatment of the characters, and the plot solutions do not have the gift of the delicacy. This time, the film is a kind of puzzle made up of pieces that don't quite fit together or match up with each other, to the point that there are roles in the aren't entirely clear to us, and others that pass by without exploiting their full potential. It's a family movie, similar to what Santiago Segura has been doing lately, but this is a genre that is not at all easy. This movie is good proof of that, it tries, but it doesn't get off to a good start. Its humor is often ineffective, its characters don't have the desired charisma, and the final result is discreet. Here the typical 'Hotel-themed film' is mixed with the adventures and pranks of the 'Home Alone' movies, including the ordinary botcher thieves and similar to ¨The Goonies¨. It's not a terrible movie and you can see the hand of its director, Ana Murugarren, who gives the movie a lot of life with her images, with good editing, and with a successful direction of actors. But none of that is of much use if the final product is so average and insufficient to convince the public, one that only seeks to have a good time on a weekend afternoon at the cinema and even weaker than the first installment.
This is a Spin-off of 'García y García', stars Pepe Viyueña and José Mota, but these two well-known masters of comedy don't provide enough chemistry. So they fail in the attempt and they don't provide the necessary laughs and including some frankly ridiculous scenes. Although it must be considered that the special effects are quite good. Along with these two geniuses of comedy, undertaking a task that is not very prestigious so to speak, some others who are also notorious and who do not give up either, such as Paz Padilla or Antonio Resines, and ultimately all the others with the noble and crazy task of make a few drops of humor spread here or there,. We miss more juicy secondary roles, since in the previous installment there were many secondary roles: Mikel Losada, Eva Ugarte, Martita de Graná, Alicia Fernández, Jaime Adalid, Jesús Vidal, Antonio Resines, Ramón Barea, among others; in this El hotel de los líos. García y García 2 (2023) only Paz Padilla and a brief appearance by Antonio Resines stand out.
The film was mediocre and unevenly directed by Ana Murugarren. His most successful film was "El Hotel de los Lios", a blockbuster and one of the most watched titles on Amazon Prime Video in 2022 and box office success in cinemas, exceeding one million euros of collection and placing itself in the Top 10 of the box office of Spanish cinema in 2021. His previous feature film, 'La higuera de los bastardos', after its premiere in Spain reached the screens and platforms of the US after passing through the Fantastic Fest, the Hollywood Film Festival (Global Grand Jury Cinematic Excellence) the Albuquerque Film & Music Experience (Best Director) or the Seattle Latino Film Festival (Special Jury Prize) and chosen buzz-buzz movie of the festival and placed by numerous critics in the Top 10 of the Fantastic Fest. Other films Ana Murugarren has directed are as follows: Tres mentiras (2014), La dama guerrera (2012) and Esta no es la vida privada de Javier Krahe (2005). El hotel de los líos. García y García 2(2023) rating: 4.5/10. It is a somewhat funny and sufficiently friendly film, but only aimed at fans of this peculiar comic couple formed by José Mota and Pepe Viyuela.
