KissEnglishPasto ...........................................................from Pasto,Colombia...Via: L.A. CA., CALI, COLOMBIA...and ORLANDO, FL Most Mexican films I've seen in recent years have received a well-deserved 8*! Besides, RUDO boasts a redux of the pairing of Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, who starred in "Y Tu Mama Tamien". Remember the great portrayals they gave in that film? The superb on-screen chemistry they exhibited? RUDO begins with the title characters as brothers;(Well, 1/2 brothers) working on a banana plantation in rural Mexico. RUDO gets off to a great start, although most of the funnier bits are rooted in the cultural regional oddities demonstrated in the congenial non-stop string of obscenities and insults the two brothers hurl at each other.I don't use subtitles in Spanish, but for those who do, I'd imagine a lot of the humor is lost, because regional cultural quirks are naturally lost in translation! As RUDO progressed, it became increasingly obvious that my expectations weren't going to be met! Like genetically engineered bananas (You know, the ones that take forever to ripen!) RUDO was picked too soon and served up green! The movie is funny and amusing at times, but could've been a lot funnier, if everybody hadn't been so strained, if they all hadn't TRIED so hard for laughs.Also, It's extremely tough to forgive the fact that RUDO's basic premise revolves around two 30ish banana ranch worker brothers, who play local soccer on weekends, suddenly becoming the best PRO-Soccer players in all of Mexico. That's a lot of suspension-of-disbelief! Don't miss Music Video: Special Features...."Las Chicas Mexicanas" try just hard enough! RUDO = 6*(Barely)...ENJOY/DISFRUTELA!?!?!?

abbyltalmadge I'm a sucker for foreign films and I must say this one is in my top three. Why? Because it's not just a movie about two Mexican brothers playing soccer. Rudo y Cursi is a cinematic tribute to the love-hate relationship between brothers and their individual struggles; one with women and fame and the other with gambling and drug addiction. The plot and the script were both well written. I especially liked Batuta's comments after each "event" in the movie; his metaphors for how life is like the game of soccer. You've got all sorts of layers in this movie involving family, culture, personal perspective, and a great ending that defines the quality of the story. Definitely a film worth watching.

nypoet22 I found this movie outstanding, especially in the acting, but in the writing as well. It tells the story of two brothers whose relationship with each other grows and flourishes, even as the world of big-time professional sports chews them both up and threatens to spit them out as nothing but bones. In the telling of the story, there is only a little shred of doubt that their sports careers will plummet, but as a viewer it is hard not to cling to that doubt.Even as events begin to unfold as painfully as you'd expect them to, all the while you're hoping that somehow things will work out well in the end. The point that a lot of reviewers seem to miss is that, in a sense, things really do work out well in the end. But to realize this, you have to re-calibrate your values to understand what success in life really is.The direction is interesting, with a lot of goofy comedy and fortune-cookie truisms interspersed between serious drama. Some folks might find that contrast off-putting, but i think the filmmakers were making a conscious comparison of the world of entertainment and the world of family. Much of the soccer is off-screen, which i assume is a budgetary thing, but in a way it might help the viewer to understand that this film is not really about soccer, it's about being brothers.

jotix100 Beto and Tato are half brothers eking out a living in Southern Mexico. When we first meet them, they are at a banana plantation. Little do they know what their lives will turn out to be after they meet Batuta, an unscrupulous soccer scout, who just happens to stop at their small village in the South of the country. Batuta sees an opportunity to sell the boys, who he sees playing and show great potential, to professional teams in the capital.Tato, who becomes cursi, or a cornball, loves to sing the sugar sweet ballads and has dreams of really making it as a singer. Beto, the tough one, has a passion for gambling; Beto appears to have a knack for winning. As both guys settle into the game, they prove themselves to be assets for the different teams they play. With fame comes money and an opportunity to explore what they really wanted to do in the first place.After Tato records a video, he attracts the opportunist Maya, who sees in this man, her ticket to a better life. Unfortunately, he doesn't realize that Maya only wants to get whatever she can from this hick boy. Beto, on the other hand, falls prey of a loan shark who introduces him to a private gambling club where, after winning initially, he ends up owing his life to the ruthless people that want to collect their money no matter what.Carlos Cuaron, brother of Alfonso, comes from a family that are deeply involved in the Mexican cinema. In fact, he was part of the team behind the much better ¨Y tu mama tambien¨, directed by his brother Alfonso. This film was not exactly his first one as a director, and he could have used a lighter tone. The movie goes downhill after the somber fate the brothers suffer toward the end of the picture, which should not surprise anyone because in most cases, these unsophisticated boys become victims of their own successes.The best thing in the film are Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna. Both actors show an amazing chemistry where one compliments the other. They give excellent reading to the two peasant boys that go from rags to riches, back to rags. The next best thing is Argentine actor Guillermo Francella who as Batuta gives a surprising performance as the scout that gives the boys a taste of an unexpected life they would never have thought they could have.