You can't say Will Ferrell's frightened of trying new things. From making - perfectly decent - stabs at straight acting in Stranger Than Fiction and Everything Must Go, the Anchorman star has now taken a whack at being amusing in another language.
Directed by Ferrell's Funny Or Die... collaborator Matt Piedmont and scripted by former Saturday Night Live writer Harper Steele, Casa De Mi Padre (translation: 'House Of My Father') sees our man plays Armando Alvarez, a Mexican cowboy keen to save his father's ranch. He is helped in this quest by this brother Raul, essayed by Diego Luna (Open Range, Milk) and Raul's stunning fiancée Sonia, played by Genesis Rodriguez (Man On A Ledge, What To Expect When You're Expecting).
Pitched as 'the funniest film you'll ever read', Casa De Mi Padre came along at an interesting time for Ferrell who hadn't had an out-and-out hit since 2006’s Talladega Nights. And while the Spanish angle might have appeared a gamble, it gave the man behind Ron Burgundy the chance to co-star will Latin greats like Gael Garcia Bernal (Luna's Y Tu Mama Tambien co-star) and Pedro Armendariz Jr (Licence To Kill, Once Upon A Time In Mexico).
Oh, and if you need proof of how funny a Gringo speaking Spanish can be, just check out the scene where Paul Newman and Robert Redford try to hold up the Bolivian bank in Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid. What a shame then that Steele and co-writer Eva Marie Peters are prepared to coast on this one joke to the point where accusations of racism wouldn’t seem unwarranted.
Not funny enough to be a comedy and never in danger of being mistaken for a drama, Casa De Mi Padre fatally falls between two stools. Nice poster, mind.