My Review of 'How to Be a Latin Lover'

I saw the trailer to How to be a Latin Lover a while back. It looked like a fun movie to check out, but I never got to check it out in the theaters. I wouldn't say it would have been worth checking out in theaters.

I love fish out of water tales, but none of them are really movie theater worthy movies. The joy of watching someone is really outside their element, learning to like their new environment is always entertaining to watch.

Watching the trailer, I already knew what kind of movie it was and what was going to happen in the movie. These types of movies aren't art pieces, they're fun time-killers if you have nothing else to watch.

This movie stars Eugenio Derbez as the main character, Maximo. He and his sister grew up poor. Their parents tried to instill hard work values onto them. Unfortunately for the children, their father worked himself a little too hard. He gets into an unfortunate, fatal accident that was caused by his lack of sleep from working too much.

Maximo discovers early on from his father's mistakes, working hard might not be the best thing thing for him. He immediately declares to himself that he would find an easier life for himself. He would later grow up to be somewhat of a gigolo in search for a sugar mama.

Luckily for him, he would find a sugar mama that would take care of him for 25 years. He gets used to living in a lap of luxury until one fateful day his sugar mama leaves him for a younger man. He's forced to leave and live with his sister.

Maximo turns out to be a spoiled entitled middle aged man and I thought I would really hate him. Fortunately for the movie they Eugenio Derbez is so charismatic that he is able to keep my interest and really care for the character. It doesn't hurt that his sister is played by Selma Hayek. Selma Hayek plays a very good, straight character to Maximo's craziness. This is a great combination.

The movie is fairly family friendly with a ton of innuendos to target adult audiences. Some of it is cleverly written for lots of fun. I find that the comedy was really reliant on the actors involved. I laughed at a couple of scenes realizing that normally I wouldn't find it very funny, but the actors in this movie had really good timing for the delivery of the jokes.

There are also a surprising amount of guest cameos in this movie as well. You'll see faces like Rob Lowe, Kristen Bell, Raquel Welch, and even Weird Al! Blink and you'll probably miss a cameo you didn't expect to see.

The film really feels like a labor of love and everyone in the cast had a ton of fun making this movie. The enjoyment of the cast making the film was translated to the audience. It's like some of Adam Sandler's films where they're on scene to just to have fun with friends, except this movie is more entertaining than Sandler's more recent movies.

Again, this isn't a masterpiece film. There are some corny scenes, predictable jokes, and it is a formulaic story, but I felt that the cast was charismatic enough to keep my attention and I had a good time watching it.

Overall, this is one of those movies you'll probably see replaying on television. It's easy and fun to watch, and if you have time to waste it wouldn't be a bad movie to check out. I'll give this movie a 7 out of 10. It's re-watchable and fun for the whole family. Definitely worth a look if nothing else is available.