The Funniest Spanish Comedies

Torrente, the dumb arm of the law (Torrente, el brazo tonto de la ley)
      1998 | Spain | Laughs: 2.8 (Chuckle) | imdb: 6.9
      wikipedia | who was involved?

An indigent ex-cop with delusions of past greatness enrolls his innocent neighbor in an investigation of a drug-trafficking Chinese restaurant.

This is a 1980s-style movie shot at the end of the 1990s — perhaps a hint that Spain was hanging a few years back at the time.

It's not very funny, it's very crude, but I chuckled a few times. And if you're a student of the genre, I'm afraid that this might be mandatory viewing. On the other hand, who's going to rush to watch the sequels, all rated lower? Not this guy. (Last viewed: December 2018)

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Ninette
      2005 | Spain | Laughs: 2.8 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 5.4
      wikipedia | who was involved?

All recent Spanish comedies I've watched have featured bare female chests, and this one is no exception. Perhaps that's what it takes to get a film funded in Spain.

If you ignore that rather cheesy incentive to draw libidinous males to the theater, you're left with a surprisingly decent movie. During the Franco years, a Spaniard goes on a vacation to Paris, hoping for promiscuous encounters with indigenous females, a prospect that an expatriate friend has advertised to him as a daily occurrence. Before he's had time to unpack his suitcase, the landlady's daughter draws him into a relationship that will keep him glued to the apartment for his entire stay.

I don't think either of us laughed, but we were thoroughly entertained for most of this light-hearted movie. (Last viewed: February 2017)

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Hopelessly Devout (Mi Querida Cofradía)
      2018 | Spain | Laughs: 2.8 | imdb: 6.1
      who was involved?

Denied the presidency of a catholic brotherhood for which she works harder than any other member, a woman attempts to reclaim what is rightly hers.

A charming little movie.
(Last viewed: February 2020)

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Isi Disi (a.k.a Amor a lo bestia)
      2004 | Spain | Laughs: 2.5 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 4.4
      who was involved?

To repay a huge fine, a heavy metal band must win a rigged contest to select the most "destructive" band.

While there is a lot to dislike about this movie (loudness, gratuitous nudity…) it is surprisingly not awful. The plot certainly rivals that of any average American comedy, which may explain why I almost laughed (once).

Despite its failure to deliver laughs, the movie gave lots to smile at. I found myself rooting for the good guys. I also told myself that the movie—with its extravagant outbursts and fascination with heavy metal—was a window into some aspects of Spanish culture, although I am not sure which. (Last viewed: February 2017)

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Three Superfluous Weddings (Tres Bodas de Más)
      2013 | Spain | Laughs: 2.3 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 6.2
      wikipedia | who was involved?

The first minute of this movie was a great surprise: I got to see the face of Berto Romero (from my favorite Spanish podcast Nadie Sabe Nada) breaking up with his girlfriend at a wedding, and the delivery made me chuckle.

Sadly, there's very little Berto in the movie. What's left is a cute romantic comedy with some funny moments and not as much gratuitous crass scenes as might be expected. The thread is three weddings which the hapless women must attend, each involving one of her ex-boyfriends.

Not great, but not terrible.

(Last viewed: January 2019)

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Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed (Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados)
      2013 | Spain | Laughs: 2.0 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 7.0
      wikipedia | who was involved?

An English teacher drives to Andalusia in the hope of meeting his idol, John Lennon. Along the way, he picks up two stray characters.

I expected a predictable feel-good movie but was pleasantly surprised by how well it hung together. It's not a laugh-out-loud comedy, but it's funny, thanks mostly to the wit of the main character, played by Javier Cámara.

I was left wanting to watch more movies with that actor, who seems to be one of those natural comedic talents.

(Last viewed: February 2019)

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The Executioner (El Verdugo)
      1963 | Spain | Laughs: 2.0 (Watch Once) | imdb: 8.0
      wikipedia | who was involved?

A handsome undertaker who has a hard time attracting ladies marries someone who faced a similar problem: an executioner's daughter. Soon he inherits the job of his father in law so the family can remain entitled to a spacious flat, but is terribly afraid of ever having to execute anyone.

Even though I didn't laugh out loud, I smiled a lot and found this movie delightful. The editing is surprising—I can't recall a movie that moves you forward so aggressively in time without using captions warning you that what you are seeing is now "three months later".

This movie made me regret not being fluent in Spanish. On the other hand language didn't seem to be a problem for Nino Manfredi, the lead character and Italian cinema superstar. I probably missed three quarters of the movie as the dialog is extremely fast and I was having a hard time keeping up with the subtitles while stealing glances at the images. In spite of that, it still felt like a unique piece and a worthwhile watch.

Edit: In case you'd like to read more about it, I suggest this review, which I found excellent. (Last viewed: February 2017)

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Amanece, Que No Es Poco
      1989 | Spain | Laughs: 2.0 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 7.6
      wikipedia | who was involved?

This movie is certainly a work of art, but as a comedy it wasn't all that effective for me.

It presents life in a village whose inhabitants have unusual behaviors, such as going to mass everyday. The absurd nature of the situations places it somewhere between Mel Brooks and Monty Python. At first, I found the movie delightful and very funny. However, by the halfway point, my brain had tired from the constant flow of nonsense situations, and I had to pause the viewing. The next evening, I enjoyed the rest.

High marks for originality. That's just not what I'm after when I sit down to watch a comedy. (Last viewed: February 2017)

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Spy Time (Anacleto: Agente secreto)
      2015 | Spain | Laughs: 1.8 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 6.1
      wikipedia | who was involved?

A grown man discovers that his father (i) is a secret agent and (ii) trained him to be a lethal weapon when he was a child without him realizing it.

The premise is not bad, but the movie is full of boring action scenes, making this short film twice as long as it needed to be. There are some funny moments, mostly thanks to the rare appearances of a secondary character played by Berto Romero, my favorite Spanish comedian at the moment — and protagonist of the wonderful podcast Nadie Sabe Nada with Andreu Buenafuente.

If the movie had been written for Berto, it would have been worth watching. (Last viewed: February 2019)

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The Tribe (La Tribu)
      2018 | Spain | Laughs: 1.5 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 5.8
      who was involved?

If you erased all his memory and changed his environment completely, could a 'bad person' turn into a 'good person'? That is an interesting question raised by this movie's premise — that a ruthless executive gets hit by a bus and goes to live with his biological mother, whom he'd never met before.

The sappy answer wasn't very convincing. Neither were the two biological brothers, who behaved in a most improbable way even according to the rock-bottom standards of comedy movie plots. And the movie's beginning was almost unbearably crass.

What good things are there to say? I enjoyed recognizing one of the baddies from the TV series Estoy Vivo; and I learned the meaning of the Spanish word lapa — and of its English equivalent lumpet, which for some reason had eluded me until now.

Given that this movie had been sold to me as the Spanish comedy of the year, I was disappointed. Honestly, don't waste your time: I don't feel this "cheap" kind of production (however much it actually cost) should be encouraged.

(Last viewed: January 2019)

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The Ferpect Crime (a.k.a El Crimen Perfecto: The Perfect Crime) (Crimen Ferpecto)
      2004 | Spain | Laughs: 1.5 (Chuckle) | imdb: 7.1
      wikipedia | who was involved?

The first fifteen minutes of this movie are irreproachable. They introduce a smooth salesman whose immediate ambition is to be promoted to head of a department store's clothing floor. As we start to believe in the power of his ruthless charm, we begin to expect that his ascent will be unstoppable.

Sadly, everything soon goes wrong for our antihero. At that stage, in my view, the movie loses much of its appeal because the main character is far less interesting as an underdog than as a winner. That being said, it's still one of the most entertaining Spanish comedies I've seen — although it didn't quite manage to make me laugh.

(Last viewed: January 2019)

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Empowered (Sin Rodeos)
      2018 | Spain | Laughs: 1.0 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 5.8
      who was involved?

A woman who faces a series of crises takes a potion that makes her tackle situations head-on and express herself without filters.

This is not an unpleasant movie, but neither is it particularly funny. I kept waiting for it to start. About halfway into it realized that I must have missed the cue and that there was nothing more to it than the featureless plot. (Last viewed: January 2018)

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Isla Bonita
      2015 | Spain | Laughs: 1.0 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 6.1
      who was involved?

This is not a laugh-out-loud comedy but a light-hearted movie—a decent one. An ageing man from Madrid visits his friend on the island of Menorca, where life is much slower but relationships aren't any simpler. I heard the name Woody Allen mentioned in relation to the movie. The soundtrack, the main character's physique and the intertwined stories justify this impression. The dialog is decent and the photography is beautiful: as long as you're not expecting roaring laughter or anything deep, you may fall under the charm of Menorca and this little movie. (Last viewed: February 2017)

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Mouth to Mouth (Boca a Boca)
      1995 | Spain | Laughs: 0.8 (Just Awful) | imdb: 6.4
      wikipedia | who was involved?

As much as I like Javier Bardem—and I've been a fan since Jamon, Jamon—I can't think of a single reason to recommend this movie. First off, I despise movies about actors or film-making. Does the world revolve around the film industry? Thousands of script writers seem to think it does.

This film features a sorry plot about an aspiring actor (Bardem) having to take work for an adult phone line before an important audition, a job that has him exclusively servicing male clients. When a female customer calls in, he gets drawn into a murder plot.

It's always hard to pull off a combination of genres (Comedy x Crime). When both sides are weak, the weakness compounds into a dud. (Last viewed: February 2017)

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The Miracle of P. Tinto (El milagro de P. Tinto)
      1998 | Spain | Laughs: 0.5 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 7.2
      wikipedia | who was involved?

An aging couple adopt two adult but short aliens and a giant psychopath. This movie is so offbeat (from the script to the visuals and the soundtrack) that it is a mission to watch, a painful mission because it is loud too. I see how this could be someone's cup of tea, perhaps someone who's into Mel Brooks. Good luck. (Last viewed: December 2017)

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