Casa de mi Padre

Will Ferrell is the unlikely inspiration behind this unexpected gem of a film. Directed in the style of a telenovela, Casa de mi Padre is a manifestation of Ferrell’s ambitious desire to reinvent the genre of foreign film, bringing his unique sense of comedy to a familiar audience through the nuanced Spanish language.

Casa de mi Padre, or My Father’s House, tells the story of Armando Alvarez (Ferrell), a farmhand living on his father’s failing ranch, who must rescue the land from Mexico’s most feared drug lord, Onza (Bernal). With the aid of his younger brother, Raúl (Luna), and Raúl’s new fiancée, Sonia (Rodriguez), Armando must fight to save more than just his father’s legacy. The trio encounter difficulties when Raúl’s shady trading takes a turn for the worse and Armando finds himself beginning to fall for his brother’s fiancée.

In preparation for the film, the committed Ferrell spent a month learning how to speak Spanish with convincing fluency and, running on a tight budget, filming was wrapped up within a further month. In spite of its low-budget, the heartwarming and somewhat tongue-in-cheek Casa de mi Padre packs in laugh after laugh. It is every bit a Will Ferrell comedy, slapstick and farcical, but it uses the classical stereotype of Mexican western and the Spanish-lingo to lend his traditional genre a new, pleasantly refreshing twist.

Georgie Rawson