Mi gran noche
Director: Álex de la Iglesia
Writer: Jorge Guerricaechevarría, Álex de la Iglesia
Cast: Raphael, Mario Casas, Pepón Nieto, Blanca Suárez, Hugo Silva, Carmen Machi, Luis Callejo, Carlos Areces, Enrique Villén, Santiago Segura, Jaime Ordóñez, Carolina Bang
Part of: /slash Filmfestival
Seen on: 29.4.2016
[Review by cornholio.]

Plot:
José (Pepón Nieto) can’t believe his luck when the temp agency actually sends him a job: he is supposed to attend the taping (four months in advance) of the New Year’s Show (not knowing that he has to fill the spot of a guy who was killed on set) to be in the audience. He puts on his tux and makes his way to the studio just outside of Madrid through an increasingly heated strike. The show features two major musical acts: the old crooner Alphonso (Raphael) and the new pop sensation Adanne (Mario Casas) whose competition with each other backstage is also getting more and more heated. With tensions rising everywhere, something has got to give.

After Las brujas de Zugarramurdi I was very reluctant to see any de la Iglesia movie ever again. If Mi gran noche hadn’t been included in my all access pass to the festival, I probably wouldn’t have seen it at all. Which would have been a pity, because it was an extremely funny (though not particularly clever) film.

Mi gran noche takes the humor and the relentless pace of the first few minutes of Las brujas (in my opinion the only good part) and extends it into a feature length film. It’s filled with dark humor and silliness. It’s amazing how many things you can cram into a 100 minute film.

The film still isn’t particularly great with its women, but it’s nowhere near the misogyny level I was afraid of after Las brujas. That is definitely a big advantage – that way I could overlook a lot of the fuckery that is going on (and there is fuckery going on, no doubt about that, from “the woman who flirts with the average looking guy must be literally crazy” to “women will steal men’s semen for their advantage” which basically means that all women [in the film] are untrustworthy sluts).

But the most entertaining part by far was the rivalry between Alphonso and Adanne, playing nicely with two very different concepts of masculinity that are both ultimately designed to appeal to women. It’s made even more interesting by the fact that the actor who plays Alphonso, Raphael, is an actual singer much in the same position as Alphonso.

Altogether I had a surprisingly good time with the film and laughed a lot. It’s not a particularly smart film, but if you lean back and enjoy the ride de la Iglesia takes you on, with all its unforeseen twists and turns, you will have a good time.

Summarizing: Fun.