Jamón Jamón (1992)
Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 14
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 5
It isn't as provocative or amusing as it pretends to be, but Jamón Jamón's cheerfully overheated melodrama is often its own reward.
Average Rating: 6.2/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 3
It isn't as provocative or amusing as it pretends to be, but Jamón Jamón's cheerfully overheated melodrama is often its own reward.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 5,820
My Rating
Movie Info
Class, sex, and food are the obsessions of this Spanish comedy drama, an international hit from writer and director J.J. Bigas Luna that plays like a cross between the lusty Like Water for Chocolate (1992) and the early work of Pedro Almodovar. In a small town in Spain's arid Monegros region, young underwear factory executive Jose Luis (Jordi Molla) falls in love with the beautiful Silvia (Penelope Cruz), a worker on the shop floor. When Silvia becomes pregnant, Jose Luis wants to marry her, but
Jan 1, 1991 Wide
Jul 27, 1994
Cast
-
Stefania Sandrelli
Conchita -
Anna Galiena
Carmen -
Penelope Cruz
Silvia -
Javier Bardem
Raul -
Juan Diego
Manuel -
Jordi Molla
Jose Luis -
Chema Mazo
Silvia's father -
Isabel de Castro
Silvia's Sister -
Miguel Garcia
Friend at Disco
ADVERTISEMENT
All Critics (14) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (9) | Rotten (5) | DVD (3)
The sex scenes are so bizarre as to be parodic and it all looks terribly ugly. But wonderful vignettes of rural life, and a terrific performance from Pablito the piglet. Ham indeed.
"Jamon Jamon" is not quite pop art, and it's not surprising or witty enough to work as satire. It's on a wavelength not easy to tune in.
Although possessing a biting wit and excellent sense of the offbeat, too much of Jamon, Jamon follows obvious paths.
A movie that combines lurid melodrama with vast improbabilities, sexy soap opera with heartfelt romance, and cheerful satire with heedless raunch.
A coarse muddle of melodrama, romance and cautionary tale, the film is chiefly a tribute to throbbing Latin manhood, as cretinous and sophomoric as it is pretentiously surreal.
It's provocative and hugely entertaining, a highpoint in the blossoming period of 1990s Spanish cinema.
It has so much of that sly and deviously wicked sensibility that Bartel's films evidence. Jamon Jamon is a fun and farcical ride.
It wants to be sexy, funny and incisive, but instead it is more overheated and silly.
Audience Reviews for Jamón Jamón
Super Reviewer
José has a difficult time explaining to his overbearing and conniving mother that he is in love with Silvia and intends to marry her. José's mother, Conchita, does not approve and when her husband refuses to help her by intervening, she takes matters into her own hands. She hires Raul ( Javier Bardem), an underwear model who works for the family business to seduce Silvia, hoping this will destroy the relationship and prevent the marriage. In spite of several aggressive attempts by Raul to seduce Silvia, she remains committed to marry José. Raúl however, becomes genuinely infatuated with Silvia while Conchita's (Stefania Sandrelli) lust for Raúl leads her to offer him anything he wants if only he has sex with her. Raul's choice is a Yamaha FZR600 motorbike so, despite his apparent lack of interest in Conchita, he becomes her lover.
Meanwhile, José's inability to come to a decision about whether to marry Silvia without his mother's approval, leads to Silvia's deciding she wants a "real man", one who has gumption. She begins to take interest in Raúl. Conchita does not approve of this relationship either because she wants Raúl for herself.
Food as metaphor pervades this witty, sexy, stunning, film. Characters have primal lusts (hungers), which are described with meat and animal imagery. One of Silvia's suitors (Raúl, played by Javier Bardem) is an aspiring bullfighter. There is a scene of nude bullfighting. At the end of the movie, the two characters vying for her affection beat each other with enormous cuts of these ham hocks.
An example of the use of food imagery occurs in an erotic scene between Silvia and José Luis. At one point he gently pulls down her shirt and starts to suck and lick her nipples. The English subtitles are:
Silvia: How come you like eating my tits?
José Luis: I like the way they taste.
S: What do they taste like?
JL: I don't know. Nothing.
S: Is it that they taste like ham omelette?
JL: That would be asking too much: one tasting like an omelette and the other like ham.
S: José Luis...
The Spanish names of these dishes are jamón serrano and tortilla de patatas.
You don't have to be Spanish to get this movie but it surely helps.
It's a bit sad to see so many reviews which so totally miss the point, and none of them from Spain. One negative reviewer even thought the film was set in Mexico which goes to show how much attention he was paying.
This film is a satire on various aspects of Spanish culture and character, primarily machismo and sexual hypocrisy, but taking in culinary preferences, attitudes to animals and those surreal brandy adverts in the shape of bulls that any visitor to Spain will be familiar with. Bigas Luna chucks it all in the stew and turns the heat up to maximum.
And why are so many people upset by the trucks? The film is set next to one of those long dusty highways that are so common in Spain. Of course there are trucks. Take my tip, go to Spain, rent a car, drive between nearly any two big cities, stay in a motel at the side of the road, try and sleep - you will get the idea.
Super Reviewer
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for Jamón Jamón yet.
What's Hot On RT
Bradley Cooper's Best Movies
Fast & Furious 6 is Certified Fresh
Fast & Furious cars gallery
Blockbusters ranked!
Featured on RT
- Weekly Ketchup: Fox and Marvel Both Courting Quicksilver for Comic Blockbusters 31
- Critics Consensus: Fast & Furious 6 is Certified Fresh 62
- Red Carpet Photos with Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Gina Carano and More 0
- Video: The Hangover Part III Cast Interviews 0
- Total Recall: Bradley Cooper's Best Movies 51
- Parental Guidance: Epic and Beautiful Creatures 2
- Comic Book Movies You Can Watch Online 16
Top Headlines
-
Evan Peters Joins X-Men: Days of Future Past
0
-
Toby Jones Talks Captain America: The Winter Soldier
1
-
The Poltergeist Reboot May Actually Be a Sequel
18
-
Will Forte Promises MacGruber 2
5
-
Universal Plans Timecop Reboot
2
-
Return of the Jedi Turns 30
2
-
Vin Diesel Says Fast & Furious 7 Will Take Place in L.A.
0
Foreign Titles
- Jamón, Jamón (DE)
- Jamón, Jamón (UK)


Top Critic