All This Just So Daddy's Little Girl Can Score A Dime Bag: Casa De Mi Padre (2012)

When I see Will Ferrell's name attached to anything, I, like most people, assume at the very least that his performance will prove funny, even if the rest of the movie falters and never really manages to find its grounding, this was certainly the case with Old School and a ton of other comedies involving the well-established funny man.  However, I remember seeing passing trailers and hints at the absurdity that was to be an almost all Spanish language film in which Ferrell, a decidedly not Spanish actor would play the lead.  The absolute brilliance of such a film, both conceptually and risky could not be ignored, yet it seems as though the movie came and went with little or no noise whatsoever, probably due entirely to the fact that anybody who were to attend this film would be subjected to reading subtitles, a veritable death sentence to assuring sales, particularly in regards to American comedy.  Yet, Ferrell, as well as the remainder of his cast, many of which are well-established Spanish speaking actors, provide for a thoroughly hilarious film that is as post-modern as they come and almost appears to be in the vein of a Tarantino film, although in the case of this film, it does not have the underlying hipness and relies solely on absurdity...to some degree satirizing the overly aggressive stylized nature of both action films and old school spaghetti westerns.  The film, Casa de mi Padre, directed by long time Saturday Night Live writer Matt Piedmont, provides a complete undermining of what viewers have come to accept as visually consumable comedic film, while also reinforcing some of the traditional tropes and absurdities. Where I found Casa de mi Padre to be somewhat out of the ordinary was within its rather serious considerations of what it was satirizing and the methods by which it was doing so, specifically in its use of humor to consider the troubles of a transnational border trade and the manner with which language barriers affect its success, as well as how failures to communicate challenge its suppression.  Undoubtedly, much of this films assured production must have laid in the hands of one Will Ferrell and its passionate execution, should be, to some degree, credited to its main actor.

Casa de mi Padre focuses on the initially simpleton lifestyle of ranchero Armando Alvarez (Will Ferrell) who desires to make the best of his families land and longs to find companionship with a woman who shares his feelings.  While his father Miguel Ernesto (Pedro Armendariz Jr) seems to dismiss his every action and thought as stupid, due heavily to blaming Armando for his wife's death, Armando nonetheless takes life with strides and lives by his promise to keep his name honorable.  However, with the return of the family's prodigal son Raul (Diego Luna) and his fiance Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez) things in the world of Armando Alvarez quickly become altered, due to a combination of his own burgeoning feelings for the extremely attractive Sonia, as well as a realization that his brother is tied into the drug trade across The United States and is quickly becoming enemies with Onza (Gael Garcia Bernal).  To make matters much worse, Armando and his family become the point of attack by government officials who see them as central figures in the trafficking of drugs, this operation is led by a hyper-patriotic "American" speaking officer named Greg Parker (Nick Offerman).  While Armando pleads with his brother to extract himself from the life of drugs and violence it is not until a violent shootout on the day of Raul and Sonia's wedding which results in Miguel's death that any serious thought is taken on ending the tragic lifestyle, which of course means that they must take down Onza a task which results in a huge shootout and the death of Raul.  This death while, unfortunate, affords Armando the means to create a relationship with Sonia, one that allows him to exact revenge on his mother's attempted racist and take down corrupt American drug agents.  Also at some some point in time a Bengal Tiger plays into the plot, but that is just one of the many extra elements to a heavily packed non-traditional comedy.

So if this is a comedy can one really take anything it is saying about the American-Mexican drug trade with any level of seriousness, perhaps not, yet the level of detail placed on considering the rhetoric of those involved as well as the misunderstandings of the lesser persons involved in such a world cannot be overlooked.  Agent Greg Parker beautifully represents the trouble of illogically conservative individuals blaming Mexico for their drug problems, as opposed to considering the social breakdown in America leading to young children desiring to get high, it is a classic example of wrongfully placed blame, in this case by Americans onto Mexicans for their inability to end drug use.  Similalry, we are provided a dueling vision of The United States via brothers Armando and Raul, one seeing it as a glorious place of golden paved streets and endless dreams, while the other deems it a filthy place full of terrible persons that act like children, of course, neither is completely right or wrong in their claims, yet they both fail to consider how their own country has its share of problems, many of which are eerily similar.  This is where language seems to emerge as a point of criticism, the assumptions shared by both groups seem to be based on their inability to explain certain ideas or notions, outside of their cultural context and it is not until Armando shares a conversation with another agent at the end of the film that both sides realize that much of their disdain and contempt for the other side is grounded in stereotypes and lies promoted by higher forces.  There is also a considerable amount of the narrative focused on honor and sacrifice, and a suggestion that both values are necessary to assure safety and civility in one of the most tenuous yet seemingly crossable borders in the world.

Key Scene:  There is a moment where Will Ferrell literally shows his ass multiple times and it proves to be a laugh out loud moment during a generally funny film.

This is yet another reward from the Watch Instantly category as I attempt to wrap up some of the missed films of the year.  It is great and certainly worth checking out and I am ashamed it did not receive more hype upon release.

Jesus, America, Freedom: The Campaign (2012)

Hopefully, the handful of people who read this blog, were like myself and made sure to vote today.  As I attempt to balance writing this blog, taking care of some schoolwork and also keeping an eye on the poll numbers as they come in, I felt it best to choose a politically inclined film as the topic of todays blog.  Fortunately, I did not have to go about and dig up some classic political thriller or comedy as a means for this post, because the comedy star driven The Campaign was in the local cheap theater, providing me with the perfect subject for today's post.  I will admit that I expected a varied level of humor from this film, something both heavy in high brow humor, as well as a considerable amount of toilet humor and this assumption was certainly proven appropriate, as the film does take some liberties with crude jokes, yet always manages to turn these moments into astute social critiques that while not perfectly satirical do manage to pin the tail onto some of the bigger problems facing contemporary political rhetoric.  The thing I did not see coming from a film starring Ferrel and Galifianakis, was a movie that earnestly reflected on the state of voter power and big money spending in political campaigns, without engaging in a completely cynical approach to its subject matter.  The Campaign manages to raise some rather pertinent questions as people return from the 2012 elections, anything ranging from what one should value in a political candidate to what role media coverage and financial revenue should play in power moves.  The film also begs the question as to what value grass roots movements have in a political arena in which the moment an action or statement is taken out of context a person's political future is essentially ruined, in so much as it makes even the most well-polished and seasoned candidates victim to sly and corrupt actions on the part of divisive forces.  Fortunately, the film is positive in its closing moments, suggesting that with honesty and well directed efforts, a person can affect change within a society, or at the very least draw attention to the inabilities of a group in power.

The Campaign begins by introducing viewers to the illustrious if not a bit pompous Cam Brady (Will Ferrell) a North Carolina congressmen who has made a career out of simply being a politician, one who it is revealed rarely engages in any sort of political actions.  After a unfortunate misdialing, it becomes nationally known that Brady is a philanderer, causing his poll numbers to drop, despite running uncontested in his area.  Two business brothers with ties to Chinese worker exploitation Glenn (John Lithgow) and Wade Motch (Dan Akroyd) realize they have the power to dethrone the seemingly career congressman, by bringing in a dark horse candidate who they find in the eccentric and somewhat flamboyant Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis).  Despite his concerns about what it will do to his familial bonds, Huggins eventually agrees to taking up the race, almost solely as a means to please his father.  While it appears as though the race between Brady and Huggins will be somewhat civil, at a brunch Brady makes a vicious attack on Huggins connecting him to communist ties and socially unacceptable behavior, leading to the beginnings of a scathing campaign that includes everything from babies being punched to Brady going so far as to sleep with Huggins wife.  After a continual beating and prodding between the two individuals, it becomes clear that Huggins has a slight lead he is informed about the plans of the Motch Brothers in which he realizes that his hometown will be destroyed by corporate greed.  Adamantly refusing to help the plan, Huggins heavy handed aides back off and turn to helping Brady, ultimately, allowing him to win the race.  Yet in a moment of confrontation about the true nature of running for office, Huggins reminds Brady about what really matters when representing a group of people, something that causes Brady to step down and, ultimately, give Huggins the win.

Now I would in most every other situation go into a great deal of criticism and theory as it relates to a film like this and as much as I would enjoy doing so, as it is certainly full of possible points of discussion, I would rather contest something that has bothered me to no avail today as I glance through various social media outlets.  I love democratic activism and the notion that we as a people are able to elect our leaders, even if it seems as though our options are slim or not particularly the best, it is always pertinent to remember that in most of the world people are unable to vote for anything and are often stuck with not just subpar leaders, but ruthless dictators who physically harm and belittle their people.  I say al this to bemoan the onslaught of idiots who claimed that they were "too cool to vote" or I do not want to vote between "two losers," thus making a statement that it is better to lazily sit around and not do anything, instead of taking, in most cases ten minutes, to chose local and national leaders, who often have larger global political impacts.  I could care less if everyone who reads this votes in opposition to my personal political beliefs as long as they are engaging in choosing our leaders, as opposed to complaining about having nobody to vote for, only to turn around and complain about the state of politics for the four years after a leader is elected.  I mean it is thoroughly possible to write-in a candidate for basically everything on a ballot, which allows people to say that yes I voted, but did not vote for x, y or z leader.  I know this all is a bit of a diatribe, but it is serious folks, political indifference and celebrated ignorance are not things to reward.

Key Scene:  The "town hall" debate depicted in The Campaign is quite hilarious and somewhat pertinent in the wake of the debates of the past few weeks.

Go out and vote and then enjoy the warm feeling of civic duty by watching this enjoyable comedy in your local cheap theater.

Hi, Are You In There?: Everything Must Go (2010)

As a comedic actor, Will Ferrell is boisterous, abrasive and condescending.  Yet when he takes on serious roles this childish demeanor becomes tragically real, as is the case with Dan Rush's inaugural film Everything Must Go.  The film does not offer anything new to the middle aged drunken failure narrative, nor does it display the medium of dark comedy in any new or unusual way.  Yet, the film works harmoniously to show one man's struggle to rediscover life after losing everything and realizing that it is when a person has nothing that they are in a position to truly give everything. Everything Must Go is a soundly made film that benefits from veteran actors, a heartfelt soundtrack and the right dash of indie style cinematography.  It is an enjoyable film that at no point tries to overpower its viewers, but instead offers them a window into one man's rise and fall.

The basic premise of the film is that Nick Halsey (Will Ferrell) becomes a middle aged unemployed man after yet another work related skirmish that was directly tied to alcohol abuse.  This problem is only exacerbated by coming home to find his belongings strew across his yard, as a result of his wife leaving him.  This combination of bad luck leads Nick to undertake a drunken stupor in his front yard in rebellion.  His refusal to reconcile the situation is quickly ended when he is informed by his AA Coach Frank (Michael Pena) that it is illegal for him to reside outside of his residence.  Fortunately, Nick is able to salvage a few days of life on his lawn by running a yard sale.  In the process, Nick befriends a young boy Kenny (Christopher Jordan Wallace) who reminds him that learning and growing are continual processes, even in ones later years.  Nick eventually recovers and after another round of devastating news and decides to move on with his life, even if it means starting over clean.

The film is very reminiscent of Eastern philosophy, particularly notions of Karma and cyclical life experiences.  Nick represents the particularly bad person, who eventually receives punishment in the form of job and love loss.  However, in classic Hindu fashion, his choice to be good and promote positive actions result in favorable experiences as his karmic energy changes.  More importantly, however, are the notions that life is truly a continual flow of ups and downs, to steal from Eastern ideas it is an inexplicable series of Yin and Yang days.  Nick realizes this truth not when looking at himself, but instead when visiting an old high school friend Delilah (Laura Dern), who after having brief luck now resides in his town with two children alone.  She is the aftermath of Nick's experiences and serves as a reminder to him that even if life is currently miserable it is his choice to accept the fate or to correct it through positive actions.  He is reminded of his possibility for good nature as Delilah points it out to be something he undertook quite regularly in the past.  It is a story of loss and gain, both physical and spiritual and could be easily missed for those only skimming the film at the surface level.

This film is likely still in theaters in much of the U.S. and is certainly enjoyable.  Despite being a blatant commercial for PBR it is well worth watching and picking up when its released on DVD.