¿De qué se ríen las mujeres? (1997) from Tuna

¿De qué se ríen las mujeres? (What Makes Women Laugh?) is a Spanish musical comedy with roughly the same style of humor as I Love Lucy. The tale is narrated by a 17 year old boy. His father is a writer, his mother and two aunts are comediennes. One of the aunts is having a long- term affair with a married man, another is a man hater who wants to be a stage actress. His grandfather has just married a girl of 20.

His father was run over by a car while trying to pick up a chick at the grandfather's wedding. His mother is crestfallen and carries the ashes everywhere, speaking to her late husband's ghost. The ghost is encouraging her to find someone else, but she will have none of it until she finds his little black book, and realizes what he had been up to. She finally resolves not only to find someone new, but to learn how to have sex without love.

It is well photographed, and has pace, but I didn't much like the style of comedy, and the plot was not all that interesting either ...
 

DVD INFO

  • It is in Spanish with optional English subtitles.

  • The letterboxed transfer was well done, but there are no special features

 

NUDITY REPORT

Verónica Forqué, as the mother, shows a breast trying to seduce a man.

Yolanda Ventura, as the 20 year old grandmother, shows breasts at the beach.

The Critics Vote ...

  • No reviews online

The People Vote ...

  • It seems to have had a theatrical release in Spain, but I could find no results, nor reviews, and there are only 31 votes at IMDb, so it could not have been very widely seen.
The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics, or a C- from our system. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by genre fans, while C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-.

Based on this description, this is a C-. If you enjoy this style of comedy, it is technically sound and competent.

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