Film Clip: Casa de Mi Padre

Two Mexican brothers (Will Ferrell, Diego Luna) struggle to protect their father’s ranch from a ruthless drug kingpin (Gael García Bernal); meanwhile, Ferrell’s dim-bulb Armando finds himself falling for his brother’s voluptuous fiancée (Genesis Rodriguez). Ferrell and his old Saturday Night Live colleagues Andrew Steele (here, the writer) and Matt Piedmont (director) parody—by faithful imitation—the torrid conventions of the telenovelas of Spanish-language TV. They try to do what Blazing Saddles did for westerns—right down to the overwrought title tune sung by a smoldering Christina Aguilera—but an over-extended SNL skit is exactly what the movie feels like, with chuckles instead of genuine laughs. Still, the chuckles are plentiful, and everyone is gamely straight-faced about being over the top.