Review of Casa de Mi Padre (2012) by Thequietgamer — 06 Feb 2015

A parody of cheaply made spanish, grindhouse westerns and cheesy soap operas. Most of the humor comes from how well it is mimicking the bad elements of it's inspiration. The poorly made shots, low budget special effects, and overly dramatic elements of the story are portrayed with mostly a straight face. The humor here is very meta.

Lots of comedy films have succeeded with meta humor, but most often it is because they have their own out there gags to go along with the more subtle ones brought on by the theme. Outside of a few moments near the end these types of jokes are largely absent. It means that if you aren't in on the joke then you just aren't in on the joke.

However even if you are in on the joke it doesn't mean that you'll find it all that funny. It can be an often witty film, but not a particularly laugh worthy one. With everyone trying to keep the real jokes to a bare minimum this can come of as more homage than parody. Rather than making fun of these types of crappy movies, it can end up being one.

As a unique curiosity it succeeds. As a comedy not so much. It's an interesting take on meta-comedy and a lesson on the dangers of taking it too far. If you have a particular knowledge of the the films and television being made fun of here then this may be one worth checking out. Others in the mood for more straight forward humor may want to look elsewhere.