Review of Y Tu Mamá También (2001) by Squalid J — 05 Aug 2008

I have a few friends who really, really love this movie, and that makes me want to be nice to it. On the other hand, it gained far more critical respect and praise than it ever deserved, and that makes me want to tear it apart. I suppose I'll try to tread lightly, although if you read my [i]Mama Mia![/i] review (which I have a bad feeling is going to get taken off this site real soon) you'll know that I'm not particularly good at that.

It's one of my least favourite types of movie - 18 rated European films about some young, usually rich tosser (tossers, in this case) going through some sort of sexual awakening. The kids are always unlikeable, self-centred little farts with too much time and money on their hands. There are no exceptions - every movie of this kind is a masturbatory streak which should never have been made. [i]Y Tu Mama Tambien[/i] is just another one of these. There's no big difference at all. So why all the respect? it doesn't make any sense. [i]Ma Mere[/i] didn't get that kind of praise. I mention that one specifically because it's basically a darker version of the same crap, and it had one of the greatest ending you will ever see, but it was critically panned. True, very few people make it to the ending, the rest of the film is so dreadful. But still.

The ending of [i]Y Tu Mama Tambien[/i] really annoys me, too. I can't say much without spoilers, but let's just say that any subtlety that [i]Y Tu Mama Tambien[/i] might have been holding on to flies out the window in the final ten minutes. It's the resultant exit wound that finally kills this film.

It's a real mystery why everybody harps on about this one. It is neither special or unique, and frankly neither is it any good. By rights it should be forgotten about completely, along with every other film of its kind.