Rating: 
Summary: A Breathtaking Exploration of Life
Review: This film could easily have turned into a typical coming-of-age story peppered with farcical sexual episodes. But under the masterly direction of Cuaron, the story of the two teenagers and one woman who bring them into the adult world through her own mortality becomes something magical and enthralling. The film is an ardent paean to life - it extols the beauties of youth without sentimentalizing or belittling it. The sexual urges of the young boys, and the terrible forward-moving current of them, are lovingly told. What sets this film apart from other movies are the specificities. The masturbations scenes, the funny manifestos these boys write for themselves to keep their friendship, etc... all these things are utterly believable, and real. This makes the climax and the denouement of the movie more heartbreaking and effective, because the passage of youth into adulthood tears down the beautiful romanticism of their youths, and the viewers are reminded of the universal rite of passage, when beauties of every youth must give way to a realization of inevitable mortality. This is universal filmmaking at its finest. One of the most interesting features of the film is the narrator's side-comments. Seemingly these comments don't seem to matter directly to the story as they touch on the tangential elements and characters of the movie. But as these accumulate, and in the context of the main thrust of the movie, the narration always intimates that there's more life than what's immediately depicted. By commenting that there's a teeming world beyond the main storytelling, the filmmaker is reminding us of the breathtaking fullness, joy, and sadness of the world that's around us. It's a relief to see films like this made. It bodes well for Mexico, as the country continues to make unbelievably good movies. I hope the shameless commercialism and blandness that pervades the movie market in the U.S. don't infiltrate that country and the artists that make these films.
Rating:
Summary: An unabashed - in your face - trip to discovering maturity
Review: WOW .... right from the beginning this movie grabs your attention and doen't really let it until we get to the expected, but still 'surprise' ending ...... This masterpiece by director Alfonso Cuaron captures Mexico today it felt as if I was taking a weekend trip from Mexico city to Tasco ..... I purchased the 'unrated' theatrical version and really have to admit that you certainly would never see this movie at you local mutiplex .... Using a unique narrator style, the director manages to fill in a travelogue tha adds to the realism and poignancy of the movie and gives the viewer that feeling of almost being a participant on this wondefull trip to the beach .... Maribel Verdu, as the 28 year old Luisa presents us with nothing less than a stunning performance that is totally believable ..... For those of you that may be reticent in buying a DVD even though you dont speak Spanish, forget it, I speak Spanish but had to read the subtitles through most of the movie, since, like real life, unless you're a young Mexican and on the scene you'd be asking 'what did you say ..?' or 'I didn't hear you ..?' etc etc ..... Get the DVD ... and leave you're preconceived notins at home ... enjoy the trip .... and be prepared for real twits in a great story ......
Rating:
Summary: Summer is here, lets get it on...
Review: It is summer in Mexico and two irresponsible young men have been left at home by their girlfriends. On their free time they enjoy drugs, sex, and parties. At a wedding the two young men meet an older attractive women whom they try to impress by telling her about a beach called Heaven's Mouth. They end up going on a road trip with her and throughout the trip the two young men begin to face the reality of their lives. Y Tu Mamá También is a very interesting "coming to age" film that deals with the issues of growing up and finding a spot in existence while having to deal with daily issues. The cinematic experience is an astonishing journey through dangers and choices.
Rating: 
Summary: It's allright allready
Review: The people is indeed getting to know their human nature and all. But I'm not shure that is a nature worth exploring in a movie. Some of the worst road trips I've been involved in have been as twice as fun as theirs. The jokes are sometimes a bit witty.
The actors perfomance is indeed very good.
Rating:
Summary: ...!!!
Review: I recently bought the DVD of this movie, I waited so axiously for it since I first saw it in the theater. A well directed road trip movie that stands high above the rest.As an american living in Mexico for the past 10 years, Julio and Tenoch made me homesick and to return to our sister country south of the border. The story is simple, two rambunctious and horny teenage boys try to seduce an older lady by talking her into a car trip to the beach. Along the way they try to seduce her. Through this, they eventually find the true meaning of friendship and the sometimes painfull and awkward accention into manhood. As american directors would have made this into an eyesore of celluloid crap, the director has made a film of meaning and poignancy. You actually care for the charactors and feel thier happiness, sadness, loves, and jelousies. I highly recomend this film, not only for film buffs and students, but anyone who is interested in learning the facts of adolesence.
Rating: 
Summary: A Road Trip with Two Mexican Boys, But the Film Offers More
Review: The director Alfonso Cuaron is probably known for his two works for Hollywood major studios, "Little Princess" and modernized "Great Expectations," both of which can boast the fresh, beautiful photography. Now he goes back to his roots, Mexico, to make another beautiful film about the two boys and a woman who hit the road to "Heaven's Mouth," the most beautiful beach in the world. The two leading Mexican boys Julio and Tenoch, both after graduating from high school and their girlfriends in Europe, have nothing to do except smoking marijuana and enjoying a wild party. Then, at the wedding party of one of Tenoch's relatives, they encounter a beautiful wife from Spain named Luisa, who is years older than them, and seems to know much more about life. Though she is quite out of their league, the boys invite her to the road trip to "Heaven's Mouth," fictional beach they created to interest her. They thought it failed until later they receive a call from her. She says yes. And the travel starts. Luisa has her own reason to go with the boys, but it is not my job to reveal it here. The film follows their trip to the beach, and the events surrounding the developing relations between the three people on the way are recorded with the realistic photography by Emmanuel Lubezki (behind the camera before with Cuaron's previous works), whose effective camera captures the beauty of the place in a French New Wave touch, being always spontaneous and still energetic and beautiful. But the center of the film is these two boys, and it would be very hard for any of us to dislike their honest characters. They are endearingly natural, and inspite of (or because of) their dirty words and wild behaviors, we come to be sucked into the situation surrounding them, which in itself is not particularly new and original, but anyway you like them both. But some would say rightly that Spanish actress Maribel Verdu may be called the real star of the film, whose emotions are quite naturally conveyed to us, drawing the younger (maybe decade younger) boys to her. But we have some warnings before watching. The film has steamy, graphic sex scenes, which may be off-putting to some of the viewers. Frankly I am still wondering whether or not Cuaron really needed these scenes, and anyway it is certain that if some director from outside Mexico, from America or wherever, should have made this film, he/she would be deemed and even severely criticized for describing Mexicans as stereotypes, just the way some of Latin actors/actresses are treated in Hollywood. But we know Mexican people loved it, making the film a huge commercial hit in there in 2001, so director Cuaron made a point, I should say. But to me, the most fascinating side of "Y Tu Mama Tambien" is not the road movie aspect or relations between the three, but the fact that the film, with its unique narratives (occasionally cutting into the story ... another New Wave trait), doesn't forget to mention the hard reality of Mexican society. There is poverty, death, pain, and politics surrounding those apparently joyful kids, and at those moments we realize that we are watching the layers of stories at the same time -- the story of those boys, and possibly the stories about those who could not be them, or who are living behind them. Perhaps only when we notice that fact, the film starts to be a really meaningful trip to the heart of Mexican culture.
Rating:
Summary: A whole new world opening up
Review: Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN is yet another example (like AMORES PERROS) of how the films from Mexico have a unique style that is maturing rapidly. The pace of this tour de force of the effects of testosterone on young lads is breathless, so much so that the viewer yearns for the moments of stillness that do come and are all the more poignant for there role as relief. Much praise has been heaped on this film and I think for the most part it is well deserved. There is not the sophistication of the films from Spain, but there IS a sense of experimentation, go-for-broke effect that just feels right. This film is graced by the beauty of Maribel Verdu (perhaps the fact that she is from Spain adds to her level of sophisication) but the gleam comes from Gael Garcia Bernal who once again, as in AMORES PERROS, reveals a young actor with explosive screen presence and who gives every indication that he is a star in the making.
Rating:
Summary: Sets a new standard for "road trip" films
Review: Of course, it's more than a "road trip" film, but the action does revolve around a long car trip to the ocean. The performances by the three main characters are outstanding because they don't seem like performances at all. The two guys talk the way real people do, interrupting each other, elaborating on something the other said, like two eager puppies trying to impress the older woman. She does a brilliant job of transforming herself from a virginal and naive wife of one of the boy's cousins, into a self-sufficient, independent woman who no longer tolerates the boys' nonsense. The movie shifts from being an exuberant celebration of youthful excess, to a more thoughtful and profound exploration of the nature of each of the three main characters. The last 20 minutes are a surprising conclusion, but totally in keeping with the rest of the film. This is definitely a movie that engages the viewer from the very beginning and does not let go until long after the closing credits. I have found myself thinking about this movie much more than I usually do and am looking forward to watching it again very soon. The video transfer is excellent, as is the Spanish Dolby surround audio track. Subtitles are generally well done, with colloquial English translations that are reasonable equivalents of the slang that permeates the film. There are very few extras on the DVD, but that's not really a problem. A film like this stands on its own.
Rating:
Summary: It's so much more....
Review: There is a moment in "Y Tu Mama Tambien" where the film arcs from being merely great to classic. It's a scene towards the end of the film, when the three prinicpal characters let loose in a beachside bar with copious amounts of alcohol. Luisa, leaving the raunchy conversation, slides over to a jukebox, selects a song, and then turns to look directly into the camera. She stares momentarily, and the begins an enticing dance, beckoning us into the story, her story, their story. Suddenly, everything transcends the real, and we, the audience, become one with the film. For me, that will be a cinematic moment never to forget. As I will never forget "Y Tu Mama Tambien". Part teenage sex comedy, part slice of life, part wonderful delve into the deeper sides of life, somehow it all melds into one amazing film. We first meet two late teen boys, Julio and Tenoch, who come from two different worlds, who manage to forge a complex friendship. They are crass, disgusting, drug abusing boys who are so full of themselves, so full of life, you fall in love with them immediately. Together they schmooze the innocent Luisa, who, after discovering her husband had an affair while away, decides to take the boys up on their offer of a trip to an ocean. The three of them have a road trip of a lifetime, full of revelation, self-disclosure and real human moments. The film soon becomes more, so much more than a sex romp through the Mexican countryside, but slices of life that only this film has presented. It is bold, and real. Bold and real, which may scare people away. The unrated version, which showed across the country, is the masterpiece which you should see. For once, theaters dared to carry an unrated film, and thus prove that the American public is willing to see movies that aren't cowtowed to a rating system that's marginally effective for parents trying to make judgments for their families, but the rest of adult American completely ignores. The fact that this film did so well, and is critically a sucecss, should bode well for the entertainment industry. That issue aside, this film is life, and its real. If seeing life in all of its raw and uncensored moments bothers you, I suggest moving along and skipping this film. However, if you want to see a film I know is the best film of 2002, then check out Y Tu Mama. It's tagline gives us some more mental food to chew on: "Life has its ways to teach us. Life has its ways to confuse us. Life has its ways to change us. Life has its ways to astonish us. Life has its ways to hurt us. Life has its ways to cure us. Life has its ways to inspire us." Thanks for inspring us with "Y Tu Mama Tambien".
Rating:
Summary: I wanted to like this movie.....
Review: .... Really. I _did_. I am a longtime fan of international films and I _love_ a good comedy. Having heard some really great reviews of this movie, I was the first in line yesterday to rent it when it came out on DVD and then couldn't wait to watch it last night. This morning I went back to the reviews that had recommended it just to make sure that I had watched the same film. Now I am not saying that there isn't ANYthing here that is redeemable, because there is. There are some funny moments and some witty dialogue. But the movie, for the most part, is not as deep or as profound as the hype makes it out to be. In fact, it seemed to me to _avoid_ such areas, electing instead to stay pretty superficial and sensationalistic. It may tread deeper waters than American Pie, but that is not really saying _much_ by comparison, is it? After I watched Y Tu Mama Tambien, I watched a short film called "You Owe Me One", also by Alfonso Cuarón, that was included on the DVD. It had many of the same elements of Y Tu Mama Tambien and was actually more humorous.
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