Casa de Mi Padre

Set in Mexico, Casa de Mi Padre stars Will Ferrell as the son of a rancher who gets pulled into a world of romance and violence, and it is entirely in Spanish. It's a hyperviolent, pulpy tale of revenge, told in grindhouse style. Padre looks like a genuine artifact of Mexican action cinema: Ferrell witnesses a killing by an evil drug lord (Gael García Bernal) but chooses to do nothing, falls in love with his brother's fiancée, has a vision, and chooses to battle the drug lord after suffering a great sacrifice. There is enough authentic-seeming anti-US sentiment here to let us know that everyone's the butt of the joke. (PAUL CONSTANT)