Casa De Mi Padre depicts the struggles of Armando Alvarez, (Will Ferrell), a Mexican cattle rancher, as he battles to save his father’s ranch.
The return of Armando’s brother Raul, (Diego Luna), a sleek, successful international businessman with a new fiance, Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez), in tow appears to herald the end of the ranch’s financial difficulties. However, after Raul’s business dealings turn out to be on the wrong side of legality, the two brothers find themselves at loggerheads with Onza, Mexico’s premier drug lord, (Gael Garcia Bernal).To add to this complication, their fraternal relationship becomes complicated by the fact Armando has fallen for Sonia.
The success of this film is largely down to Ferrell’s ability to portray a serious persona against a backdrop of amusing material. In addition, Piedmont’s ridicule of low-budget Mexican cinema, with Alvaro and Sonia, in one scene, for example, are quite clearly riding on fake horses on wheels, provides further comedy. However, I feel he does this once too often and the additional fact that all the dialogue in the film is in Spanish may put some viewers off. It’s hard to grasp the full impact of the witty one-liners when you’re squinting at subtitles. Consequently, though amusing, this film falls just short of a five star rating.