The Funniest Spanish Comedies

Negociador
      2014 | Spain | Laughs: 0.5 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 6.4
      who was involved?

Two men spend weeks holed up in a French hotel to negotiate a cease-fire between the Spanish state and the separatist organization from the Basque country.

I was drawn to this movie because its main actor was a prominent figure in Spanish Affair, one of my favorite Spanish comedies. Also, the movie bears the 'comedy' tag on imdb, although as it turns out, it scores a zero on the laugh-o-meter.

In spite of that, it is an intimate little movie which I thoroughly enjoyed. It must have cost all of twenty dollars to make, but it left me infinitely more satisfied than most of those blockbuster productions from Southern California. (Last viewed: February 2018)

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El Turismo es un Gran Invento
      1968 | Spain | Laughs: 0.2 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 5.6
      who was involved?

The mayor of a landlocked village excites his constituents about transforming their modest backwater into a glitzy resort to rival the famous beaches. Despite its cultural value, overall the movie was a big yawn. Some of the characters were cute, but most of the cast were guilty of overacting. The movie also spent an inordinate amount of time presenting images of a boring cabaret act by female dancers. You can safely skip this one. (Last viewed: March 2017)

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The Anchorite (El Anacoreta)
      1977 | Spain | Laughs: 0.2 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 6.8
      wikipedia | who was involved?

A man who has retired from the world and has been living in his bathroom for eleven years receives the visit of a young lady who has found one of the thousands of messages he sends out to sea in aspirin tubes via the magic of modern plumbing. She sets out a challenge for herself: to make him leave the bathroom. Partly this is a study in a man's character; often it seems more like an excuse to make the attractive actress take off her top.

I was excited to hear about a 1970s Spanish comedy—as Spanish films in that genre seem hard to come by—but this turned out to be a light-hearted psychological drama rather than the laugh-out-loud movie I was hoping for. (Last viewed: July 2014)

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El Cochecito
      1960 | Spain | Laughs: 0.2 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 7.3
      wikipedia | who was involved?

This an excellent movie, but despite its comedy classification it's not likely to make you laugh. An elderly gentleman desperately wants a motorized wheel chair so he can hang out with his best friend (a paralytic) and his gang, but his son (a lawyer) won't let him have the money.

As a social satire, the movie fulfills its function. The tone is light and there are many occasions to smile, as well as some sad ones. The main character is played by the same actor as the lead in The Executioner. (Last viewed: February 2017)

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Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle (Muchos hijos, un mono y un castillo)
      2017 | Spain | Laughs: 0.1 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 7.5
      who was involved?

This movie wasn't on my radar until I heard an interview of the director, who said that theater owners had been telling him that this was the movie that had the most people laughing that year, so much so that the laughter was covering some of the lines. That did sound like a bit of self-indulgent promotion, but I thought heck, movies that make you laugh are my hobby, I have to give this a try.

I don't think I'm a comedy snob, but I'm starting to wonder if my standards might be a touch higher than those of the people who exploded with laughter during this movie — if they indeed exist. I realize that YouTube has made home movies ubiquitous, but sitting through 90 minutes of someone's video tapes is not my idea of fun.

The meat of the movie is the family having to vacate its castle to get out of a ten million dollar mortgage. An unusual story, to be sure, but maybe not enough to deserve this long treatment. One can have kilometers of films and videotape stored in boxes, but that doesn't necessarily add up to a story.

The director did an excellent job building a monument to his mother. I'm not sure that her being a legend within her own family necessarily makes her a character of general interest for comedy fans.

Overall, I feel that this movie was oversold, and that's probably my main complaint. Sure, it wasn't worth my time as a movie meant to make me laugh, but on the other hand I watch so many worse movies than this year-round that it really didn't matter.

(Last viewed: January 2019)

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Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios)
      1988 | Spain | Laughs: 0.1 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 7.6
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Various characters converge on the apartment of a lady who is trying to get in touch with the man who just dumped her.

As in other movies I've seen by Pedro Almodóvar, the comedy tag should not be taken as a promise of big laughs (I don't think we laughed even once), but of smirks—a trait shared by other Spanish comedies until recent times. (Last viewed: May 1989 March 2013)

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Welcome, Mr. Marshall (Bienvenido Mister Marshall)
      1953 | Spain | Laughs: 0.1 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 8.0
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Highly-rated Spanish movie. After the war, a small village prepares for the arrival of American delegates in charge of implementing the Marshall Plan. Cute and probably valuable for several reasons. Lots of irony, no doubt, but I want laughs! Hadn't laughed after thirty minutes, gave up. (Last viewed: July 2010)

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Plácido
      1961 | Spain | Laughs: 0.1 (Broken Comedies) | imdb: 7.9
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Around Christmas time, a man scrambles to raise money to pay an installment on his car to prevent it from being repossessed. Meanwhile, the main event in town is a charity whereby the wealthy must invite an indigent for dinner.

We were ready to like this movie, as we had much enjoyed The Executioner by the same director (Luis García Berlanga). I know there's meant to be a searing social commentary in there, but we couldn't get into it. Shortly after the halfway mark, we just gave up. (Last viewed: February 2017)

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Family United (La gran familia española)
      2013 | Spain | Laughs: 0.0 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 6.2
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Yet another insipid movie masquerading as a comedy. A family of five brothers must combine a wedding, a world-cup soccer game, parents who don't get along, and… sorry, you bored me so much in the first fifteen minutes that I didn't get past that. Taking a look at Rubén from the wonderful series Antidisturbios seven years earlier was not a redeeming feature. If you're stuck on an airplane and are desperate to go to sleep, do not miss this.

(Last viewed: April 2021)

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Volver
      2006 | Spain | Laughs: 0.0 (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 7.6
      wikipedia | who was involved?

An elderly woman believes that her dead sister has returned to help her with household chores, and the lady's nieces (the daughters of the deceased) get increasingly involved in that ghost story.

A pleasant watch, although the cinematography is very poor (with Penélope as eye candy, perhaps they thought that no further effort was needed in that direction), but not a comedy in the "laugh-out-loud" sense of the word. (Last viewed: April 2018)

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Sidetracked (a.k.a Sheep Don't Miss The Train) (Las ovejas no pierden el tren)
      2014 | Spain | Laughs: 0.0 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 5.7
      who was involved?

I gave up on this movie after about twenty minutes because I still had no idea what it was about. The acting and production felt like a Spanish soap opera, which is not what I was in the mood for. But the fact is that I'm never in the mood for Spanish soap operas, so if you're differently wired, this might be your cup of tea. (Last viewed: February 2019)

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Neon Flesh (Carne de Néon)
      2010 | Spain | Laughs: 0.0 (Don't Bother) | imdb: 5.7
      who was involved?

I started watching this movie because I thought it was a comedy. As it turns out, it is one of the thousand movies that have tried to emulate the style of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. While that style was fresh when the original first came out, it is now so stale that I find the rip-offs unwatchable—and we turned it off after twenty minutes. I'm sure you can do better with your time, and if you're after a laugh, this is certainly not the place to look for it. (Last viewed: February 2017)

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Cousinhood (Primos)
      2011 | Spain | Laughs: 0.0 (Just Awful) | imdb: 6.7
      wikipedia | who was involved?

Abandoned at the altar, a young man embarks on an adventure with his two cousins. The first fifteen minutes were so pathologically unfunny that I stopped the tape. (Last viewed: June 2017)

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My Big Night (Mi gran noche)
      2015 | Spain | Laughs: 0.0 (Just Awful) | imdb: 6.0
      wikipedia | who was involved?

During the taping of a made-for-television new year party, all hell breaks loose.

It's bad enough that half the movie is one big choreography (excellent I'm sure, but not what I signed up for). The director belongs to the Mel Brooks school of comedy, a school whose main tenet seems to be that more chaos means more fun. Not for me. I didn't laugh once, and wish this kind of movie would cease to be made. (Last viewed: February 2018)

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8 Dates (8cho citas)
      2008 | Spain | Laughs: N/A (Light-Hearted) | imdb: 6.1
      wikipedia | who was involved?

This is an early feature by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, a talented director. It's definitely not a laugh-out-loud comedy, but sweet and worth watching for those who follow Spanish series and films, as it features many faces you'll have seen elsewhere.

The movie consists of eight vignettes that purport to represent different phases in a romantic relationship, each with a distinct cast except for the last. It's not a bad concept but unequal in its execution, with a mixture of weak and strong pieces.

That said, I'm glad to have watched it.

(Last viewed: December 2020)

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