Rating: 
Summary: A happy film
Review: This film is not as funny as it thinks it is. The script is lacking in wit and there is no coherent plot. Instead, in Almodovar's usual complex style, we have a series of interrelated visual jokes hung loosely on one dramatic thread: an abandoned pregnant woman's frantic search for the man who has dumped her. This woman, Pepa, played with her usual skill by Almodovar regular Carmen Maura, is a second-rate actress who performs in TV soap commercials. We are shown her playing the part of a serial killer's wife faced with the task, each time he comes home, of washing his blood-stained shirts. What kind of visual joke is that?We have a blond, eccentric taxi-driver, who has his colourful "Mambo" taxi stuffed with magazines, drinks and every possible Medicare product, who, by coincidence, just happens to be there on the three occasions Pepa needs him. And then we have her friend, Candella (Maria Barranco), a tall, slender girl, who, thinking she is being pursued by the police because of her involvement with a Shiite terrorist, comes to Pepa's apartment for advise and succour and failing to get either tries to throw herself off the balcony. She is saved by Pepa's ex-lover's son, Carlos (Antonio Banderas), and his ugly girl-friend, Marisa( Rossy de Palma). Pepa has not met Carlos before; he has come, by coincidence, to view the apartment which Pepa now wants to let. Whilst the others talk, Marisa drinks some Gazpacho, prepared earlier by Pepa with a near lethal dose of barbiturates for her ex-lover, Ivan. She then spends the rest of the film in a deep sleep thus giving Carlos and Candella time and opportunity to fall in love. Towards the end, Pepa, in a wild chase scene, follows her ex-lover's pyschotic wife, Lucia (Julieta Serrano), who is on a motor bike with her hair flying, to the air-port and arrives just in time to prevent her shooting her husband, Ivan (Fernando Guillen). The latter is so grateful that he wants Pepa back but she will have none of it. Despite its underlying theme of despair and occasional descent into sick humour, this is, paradoxically, a happy film - bright, colourful, fast-moving, with hardly a dull moment, the sort of film you might turn to to help raise your spirits on a rainy afternoon.
Rating: 
Summary: Screwball Comedy is Not Dead
Review: This is a day in the life of Pepa, voice-over artist. She dubs foreign films into her native Spanish, and sometimes provides the voice for actresses in Spanish films who for whatever reason don't speak their own lines (this is common practice in many European film industries). As though Pepa's day weren't bad enough, because her lover Ivan has just broken up with her, and she's found out she's pregnant by him, people keep entering her life with strange demands on this day. First is her friend Candela, who is running from her Arab muslim boyfriend; he has turned out to be a shiite terrorist. After that, many new people pop up when least expected, each a little closer to a nervous breakdown than the last. And each, it would seen, more determined to push Pepa over the edge, but she somehow keeps her cool, and makes it through the day. Pepa is the one person in this film who seems to have the "right" to completely breakdown, and yet she is the sanest
one here. This is screwball comedy (plus sex) just like Leo McCarey and Ernst Lubitsch used to make. I congratulate Almadovar on capturing this tenor. Recent American attempts to revive this style have usually digressed into tar pits of lame yet gross sex jokes, or played like two hour sit-coms. This film is quick and light, and none of the actors ever step outside their characters to say to the audience "Look at me! I'm being funny!" which is the scourge of this type of film. I laugh myself to tears watching this film; I quite literally fell out of my seat once. And this is with repeated viewings. I love this film.
Rating:
Summary: Tremenda pelicula !!!
Review: This is Almodovar at his best. If you really want to experience surreal Europe this is a must. The way Almodovar presented his characters and the environment surrounding this fascinating story deserves commendations of the highest caliber. This is a portrait of a developing modern day Spain and the people that are swiped away by the magnitude of the very issue, modern life and its idiosyncrasies.
Rating:
Summary: Favourite movie
Review: This is probably my favourite movie ever: the acting is superb, the direction, cinematography and editing are flawless, the plot is deliciously bizarre. The best thing about the film is the colours though - it's an absolute joy to watch, I've never seen a redder red. What more can I say?
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite movies!
Review: This movie is in my top 10. There are so many memorable scenes in this film. As a lover of the Castillian language, this film has also helped me improve my language skills. Although, please do not ask my spanish teacher as she gets a bit annoyed at my constant talk of it. I am sure she wished she had never shown it to us. This is a definite if you like a well-made, comical, down right crazy movie. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: This is the best!
Review: This movie is one of the best movies I have ever seen. It is funny and scatter-brained, but the director keeps it together without missing a beat. The characters are memorable and this is a movie you won't soon forget, if ever. Also, for those who love Antonio Banderas, this movie is a wonderful chance to see his early work and what he can do with a part that could have been overlooked. Instead, he turned it into one of the best supporting roles I can remember! This movie is great fun and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Rating:
Summary: Watch it,if you appreciate madhouse humor;if you don't, then
Review: WATCH THIS FILM AND LEARN TO APPRECIATE THIS KIND OF HUMOR, WHILE YOU STILL CAN... This film is one of the most funniest films, I have ever seen. Even if you watch it dozen of times, it is still funny, because [while dialogue itself is hilarious] the most fun comes from the faces and body language of the actors/characters. Statistically, this film is the most popular Spanish film in North America, so far. It is definitely the most popular and well-known of Almodovar's films. I don't want to give away the plot. Besides, the plot is too crazy to explain... You just have to see it. I'll just say that you will see: Banderas as a stuttering, young man in glasses [beautiful, just as well...], who is totally under control of his impossibly ugly fiancee [very gifted comedian actress, but the way]. Young girl, trying to commit suicide, by sliding off the penthouse balcony. Young virgin, having an erotic dream and, subsequently, "losing her virginity" in a dream, after being heavily drugged. Also, coming to the screen near you: crazy mother, strange taxi-driver, unlucky terrorists, wacky neighbors, sloppy policemen, and one over-sexed womanizer, who gets what he deserves, but not quite.... All in all, it is a total mad-house, created in a very beautiful Spanish penthouse, by a series of unfortunate circumstances. After watching this film, I thought to myself, that Shakespearean comedies have finally found their independent counter-part in the 20th cenruty's cinema.
Rating:
Summary: Passionately Comical
Review: Watching this movie will make any woman feel quite sane. You just cannot imagine your life could get this out of control. The opening scenes are dreamlike, colorful and only when you watch this for the second time do you fully understand the implications of all the movie making episodes and why Ivan is walking by woman after woman saying exactly what they want to hear. In this movie, there are a number of women who are involved with a number of men they should be running from instead of pursuing them endlessly in the hopes of returned affection. While I started watching this in English, you might also tend to agree it is best watched with the Castilian audio track and the subtitles of your choice. This story really begins with Pepa (Carmen Maura) oversleeping and hearing the love of her life leave a message on her answering machine asking her to pack all his things in a suitcase because he is leaving on a trip. Pepa does what any sane woman would do and tosses out everything that reminds her of Ivan. Except it takes almost the entire movie for this to happen. We wonder how she would have reacted if she had not wanted to tell Ivan she was pregnant. Candela (Maria Barranco) is one of her best friends she is trying to avoid so she can deal with her own heartbreak. Candela is running from the law and needs a safe place to escape to until she can figure out how to warn the world about a Shiite terrorist attack she found out about from her ex. Eventually Candela makes her way to Pepa's penthouse just as Pepa is flying out the door. Each woman is vulnerable in various ways. Lucia deals with her rejection in violent ways, Pepa by looking for her boyfriend endlessly and Candela by trying to jump from the balcony of Pepa's penthouse. This movie is so beautifully woven together with all sort of delicious connections including the gazpacho episodes and the taxi driver. Nothing in this movie is expected. You also see each character giving her view of the entire situation. Antonio Banderas appears as Ivan's son Carlos and is hardly recognizable at first. Must have been that he is so young and is wearing glasses. At times just the way the scenes are filmed gives it such visual appeal. It is a comedy, a mystery, a thriller depending on the music which is only used to maximum effect where needed. There is some brilliant symbolism like the bed going up in flames perhaps representing a relationship destroyed in a moment of misunderstanding or passion. With that said, this has to be the most hysterical film I have seen "since" I watched a movie when I was seven called "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)." This movie is also one you will not soon forget. If it wasn't for the study of sexual customs, this would be an innocent romp at best. Vibrant, artistic and unrestricted in its originality and hilarity.
Rating:
Summary: We can't help but stare
Review: We cannot help but stare in awe as this movie unfolds in all its technicolor glory and darkly twisted wit.
Ms Maura's performance ranks up there with some of the best.
Cinematography and Art Direction are spectacular. Perhaps not understood by all, Aldomovar's films borrow from those mundane moments of life and gives us all the range of human emotions that many films strive for but fall short.
Rating:
Summary: Hysterically funny and uplifting!
Review: Whenever I need a pick-me-up from a very low low, I watch this movie. The scenes are not to be described - they are the most funny I've ever seen. A very young Antonio Banderas puts the frosting on the cake. Almodovar's best! And I like all of his movies but this will have you rolling on the floor! Watch this movie!
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