The lowest of lowbrow film genres -- the teen sex comedy -- is elevated to lyrical new heights.
Y Tu Mama Tambien (2002)
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Reviews Counted:127
Fresh:116
Rotten:11
Average Rating:8/10
Consensus: A road movie that's not only sexy, but intelligent as well.
Theatrical Release:Mar 15, 2002 Limited
Box Office: $13,622,333
Synopsis:
The lives of Julio and Tenoch, like those of seventeen-year old boys everywhere, are ruled by raging hormones, intense friendships, and a headlong rush into adulthood. Over the course of a summer,...
The lives of Julio and Tenoch, like those of seventeen-year old boys everywhere, are ruled by raging hormones, intense friendships, and a headlong rush into adulthood. Over the course of a summer, the two best friends, while living out a carefree cross-country escapade with a gorgeous older woman, also find connection with each other, themselves and the world around them. Just days after the boys trade heartfelt good-byes with their sexy, young girlfriends who are headed to Italy for summer vacation, their attention is diverted by Luisa, a stunning twenty-eight year old Spaniard. At a family wedding in Mexico City, the boys awkwardly flirt with Luisa, who is married to a distant cousin of Tenoch’s. Fueled by alcohol and her beauty, the boys invite Luisa to accompany them on a road trip to a remote beach with the romantic name of Boca del Cielo -- Heaven’s Mouth -- neglecting to mention that they wouldn’t know where to find it, even if it actually did exist. Luisa humors the boys, but not without first fueling their vivid imaginations. A few days later, Luisa, receives some heartbreaking news and, needing a change of scenery, tracks down the boys and accepts their offer. The unlikely trio hits the road, their destination not so much Boca del Cielo as that seductive and mysterious place where innocence, sexuality, and friendships collide.
As the saying goes, you never really know someone until you travel with him. With the car closing in upon them, Julio and Tenoch are forced to reveal to each other sides of their personalities they had never before even dared to explore. Though best friends for years, the boys realize they had often taken each other for granted, not seeing the person in front of them as more than a façade or an attitude. Luisa is the catalyst of self-discovery. Her presence brings out the best – and the worst – in the two friends. At times a sexy seductress, at other times the maternal figure each of the friends is lacking, Luisa, too, finds out what is important to her. As the road leading to the elusive Boca del Cielo becomes more desolate and inhospitable, the protagonists find there is no escape from a confrontation with their innermost demons and desires. -- © IFC Films
Starring: Maribel Verdú, Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal, Ana Lopez Mercado
Starring: Maribel Verdú, Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal, Ana Lopez Mercado
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Screenwriter: Carlos Cuaron, Alfonso Cuaron
Producer: Jorge Vergara, Amy J. Kaufman
Studio: IFC Films
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Reviews for Y Tu Mama Tambien
Cuaron ... sucks you in with the colorful, lively stuff while hinting that the movie is more complicated than it seems, that it is, in fact, as complicated as sex itself.
What makes this film so unexpectedly strong and affecting is its frank portrayal of how we actually process our life experiences.
Be forewarned -- there's plenty of male genitalia and vulgar language.
Director Alfonso Cuaron has taken familiar and seemingly whimsical material and fashioned it into something much deeper and thought-provoking.
A journey through memory, a celebration of living, and a sobering rumination on fatality, classism, and ignorance.
Vastly sardonic and intoxicating, Y Tu Mama Tambien is a bristle and unconventionally welcoming eyeopener that refreshingly defines what it means to be an examination of sexual angst while catering to a personalized and undefined rebellion.
Coarse and titillating--you could well feel like referring to it as 'Mexican Pie'...The mere fact that it's in Spanish doesn't really make it any better.
Like its characters, Y Tu Mama has a great distance to go before it becomes enlightening.
Alfonso Cuaron's sexually explicit Mexican road movie burns with lustful jokes, liberating joy and the pleasure of life itself.
Though Mama takes a bit too long to find its rhythm and a third-act plot development is somewhat melodramatic, its ribald humor and touching nostalgia are sure to please anyone in search of a Jules and Jim for the new millennium.
If adolescent sex comedies in this country were made with brains and soul instead of glands and attitude, they could look a lot like this ribald but touching road movie from Mexico ...
Its political consciousness is a prime reason why Y Tu Mama Tambien is such a fresh, exhilarating moviegoing experience.
You might think twice before dragging your own mama or papa on this wild ride, but it's definitely a journey worth taking.
Director Alfonso Cuaron gets vivid, convincing performances from a fine cast, and generally keeps things going at a rapid pace, occasionally using an omniscient voice-over narrator in the manner of French New Wave films.
Latest News for Y Tu Mama Tambien
June 28, 2009:
Edinburgh 2009: RT's 10 Must-See Movies
The Edinburgh Film Festival has come to a close and Rotten Tomatoes thought we'd make a traditional look back over all of the films playing at this year's fest and present to... More...
June 28, 2009:
Five Favourite Films with Diego Luna
Diego Luna is bristling at RT's suggestion he pick just five favourite films. "It's really unfair to have to say only five films," he complains as he picks his final choice.... More...
June 28, 2009:
Five Favourite Films with Gael Garcia Bernal
Gael Garcia Bernal may be Mexico's best known acting export of recent years, having made a powerful debut in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Amores perros in 2000. A year later he... More...
June 26, 2009:
RT Interview: Director Carlos Cuaron on Rudo and Cursi
Brother of Children Of Men helmer Alfonso Cuaron and Oscar-nominated screenwriter of sizzling Mexican roadtripper Y Tu Mama Tambien, Carlos Cuaron makes his directorial debut... More...
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