4/5 LOVE THIS MOVIE!
  by J. C. Rodarte (Phoenix, AZ)
If you are a follower of Gael Garcia and Diego Luna this is a must have movie. Love the drama and comedy that is involve in these two brothers!!

4/5 A fun, rollicking movie and cautionary tale to boot
  by Andy Orrock (Dallas, TX)
'Rudo y Cursi' is a fun, rollicking movie and a cautionary tale to boot. I was lucky enough to see this film's debut at Dallas AFI in early 2009, where it was introduced by writer/director Carlos Cuarón. That night, Cuarón called 'Rudo y Cursi' "a tale of my Mexico and what it is today, good or bad." What we get is Cuarón's comedic/dramatic arc of the gravitational pull of Mexico D.F. on small-city dreamers, an obsession with El Fútbol Mexicano, shady sports promotion, a hyper-aggressive media looking to find and promote stars, here-today-gone-tomorrow success, and - lurking in the background - allusions to the ascendancy of powerful drug lords.

Our audience was split 50-50 between native Spanish and English speakers - the Spanish-speaking half laughed uproariously throughout; the English-speaking half found the proceedings interesting, funny...but maybe not quite that funny. The difference was between the spoken word and the subtitles - I had a friend confirm that half-brothers Tato (Gael García Bernal) and Beto (Diego Luna) are insulting each other throughout in inventive, bluer-than-blue, can-you-top-this street language. The subtitles reflect only a small slice of that linguistic flair.

Like many, I was delighted by the little Easter egg tucked away inside this film: García Bernal's hilariously campy ranchera rendition of Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" - recast here as "Quiero Que Me Quieras." As director, Carlos Cuarón may not have quite the emotional touch that older brother Alfonso laid down with perfection in Y Tu Mama Tambien, but Carlos definitely has the ear for comedy and cultural touchstones.

As much fun as it was to watch García Bernal and Luna pair up again, my favorite role in the film belonged to Argentine actor Guillermo Francella as sports agent and scout, 'Batuta.' His role in plucking Tato and Beto from obscurity and riding their wave of success - and what follows - rings true at every step. He inhabits that role perfectly.

4/5 Mexico City Can Be Too Enticing
  by John F. Rooney
"Rudo y Cursi" (2009) features two banana-picking brothers playing football (soccer) in their small Mexican village where they are discovered by a scout/scam artist (Guillermo Francella), the film's sometime narrator. Rudo (Diego Luna) is a goalie, and Cursi (Gael Garcia Bernal) is an effective scorer. The scout can only take one of them to Mexico City, so they choose who is to go by a penalty kick. Cursi wins, gets established in pro soccer, and talks the scout into getting his brother onto another team.
Both become successful. Cursi would just as soon be a pop music star and tries his hand at it. His flaw is falling for a beautiful faithless celebrity girl friend, and Rudo's failing is his addictive gambling habit.
Both run into trouble and can't handle success. There are a lot of crooks around ready to fix games, and one brother gets entrapped in a fix which involves the other.
The movie "Y Tu Mama Tambien" was co-written by Carlos Cuaron, but this time he wrote and directed using the same lead actors from "Mama."
In Spanish with English sub-titles, the flick never really shows the two with any real soccer skills, and is short on detailed soccer sequences. The pictures of village life are well-handled, and the movie has many realistic elements.
These two guys aren't the best actors you've ever seen, but they turn in credible enough jobs to keep the plot boiling and the lid ready to pop. Some of the plot features may seem familiar and overworked to you. It reminds me of what a very good "B" movie used to be like in the good old days.


5/5 BEST SPORTS MOVIE EVER
  by Robert C. Yunk (Dubuque, IA USA)
Rudo Y Cursi BEST SPORTS MOVIE EVER. I LIKED IT SO MUCH BOUGHT THE DVD AND SOUNDTRACK. FROM THE STARS OF THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES AND Y TU MAMA, TAMBIEN. IF YOU LIKE SOCCER YOU'LL LOVE IT

5/5 The Trio Cuarón, García Bernal and Luna Reunite - Successfully!
  by Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States)
Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna struck fireworks with their 2001 'Y tu mamá también' directed be their close associate Carlos Cuarón. Now once again the three men, along with important input from some of the finest talent in Mexico, join in a low key, warmly humorous, well acted and directed and produced RUDO y CURSI. There has been considerable publicity about the movement to raise the importance of Mexican films to the high standards of International films, largely due to the passion of García Bernal, Luna, Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo del Toro. The success of this movement is obvious in this very fine film - a tightly conceived story about the poor families in Mexico who long for the ability to climb the ladder to success in business, fame and comfort, and the Cinderella story recasting brothers played by García Bernal and Luna whose struggle for opportunity leads them into the bumpy relationship with a 'talent scout' (Batuta played with aplomb by the Argentinean actor Guillermo Francella) and to tenuous triumph because of their soccer talent and the inevitable temptations of success in the great Mexico City world.

García Bernal is Tato (to be nicknamed 'Cursi' by his teammates), a wannabe singer whose goal is to make it big in the world of entertainment, using Batuta as his means to get there. Luna is his brother Beto (to be nicknamed 'Rudo' - the alternate title of the film is 'ROUGH AND VULGAR' instead of 'RUDO y CURSI'!) who is married but longs to follow his brother into the fame of the Big League soccer. Each lad lands in Mexico City, each takes advantage of his given soccer talent and each succumbs to personal goals - Rudo to gambling and Cursi to women and singing in silly music videos. Batuto is always on the sidelines (and in the voice over narration) to follow each of brother's successes and failures. The manner in which the two brothers compete and come together creates a moving and tender story ending.

What makes this little film so special is the genuine qualities and ensemble acting that come from García Bernal and Luna but also form the actors portraying the impoverished but proud family of the two boys and the 'big town characters' they encounter in Mexico City. The film feels real and committed, mixing just the right amount of humor, fantasy, and tenderness - thanks to the excellent script by writer/director Carlos Cuarón. It is a pleasure to watch and a very fine statement about the quality of films coming from Mexico. Grady Harp, September 09