Rudo y Cursi 2008

Ben Mankiewicz, At the Movies: It was funny, it was sweet, it was warm but it never felt hacky or maudlin. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Luna and Garcia Bernal gamely reunite for this occasionally entertaining film about two rival soccer-playing brothers, but the paint-by-numbers story line and overzealous direction do them few favors. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This bitter pill might easily have driven the rest of the film, but instead Cuaron contrives for both brothers to become stars, and the story devolves into a familiar tale about the price of success. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: You'd never know this was a debut film. Unlike Rudo and Cursi, who don't know their left from their right, Mr. Cuaron directs with a hand that's as sure as it is deft. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Some of this is funny, thanks to the playful performances, but much of it just seems familiar and juvenile. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Bernal gives his flashy would-be pop star a daft, wide-eyed innocence and it's great to see Bernal and Luna together again, but Cuaron nearly ruins a wonderful comedy by turning it into a much less distinguished drama. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Rudo y Cursi is a grave and calculated affront to the men of Mexico, and that's the source of its roistering charm. Read more

Robert Abele, Chicago Tribune: As Cuaron's enjoyable film about brotherhood and the beautiful game zestfully points out, a block and a save are two sides of the same play. Read more

Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle: There are plenty of kicks: class struggle, wild crackups, Cheap Trick, occasional melodrama and lots of blackly comic moralizing on the lure and letdowns of modern Mexican celebrity. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The results are not nearly as auspicious as that other film, but Bernal and Luna are so good together that they carry the day anyway. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: There is plenty of coarse, macho humor. There are nearly as many moments that are goofy and sentimental. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Rudo y Cursi is a sly miniaturist pleasure on its own terms, a piquant fable about the bouncing ups and downs of success, failure, competition, and comradeship. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: While it may seem obvious which brother is responsible and which is the flake, both Rudo and Cursi are equally flawed, one of the film's realistic charms. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Carlos Cuaron's fierce, profane and hilarious comedy about two brothers is not so much about sports as about how we play the game of life. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It gives a far deeper and more engaging portrait of Mexico -- rich and poor, rural and urban, old and new -- than you're likely to find anywhere else this week. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Bernal and Luna have great sibling comic chemistry. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: [Has] a mess of cultural issues to reckon with, and Rudo y Cursi deals with them while offering an engaging rags-to-riches sports fantasy. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Rudo y Cursi is the sort of high-level buddy movie every national cinema needs for export -- along with its masterpieces, to be sure. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Luna and Garcia Bernal display the kind of chemistry that makes you overlook the cliches in the script by first-time director Carlos Cuaron. Sometimes good-natured fun is enough. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: I won't tell you who wins the Rudo/Cursi showdown, but when it comes to the Cuaron brothers, my money's on Alfonso. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Carlos Cuaron, Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Y Tu Mama Tambien, makes his directorial debut with this easygoing sports movie/family drama/musical comedy/crime story. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Rudo y Cursi never quite figures out what it wants to be. Is it a sports comedy? A tale of sibling rivalry? A look at Mexico's gritty underbelly, set against a soccer backdrop? Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: Ay carumba-blimey, what a mess. Read more

Greg Quill, Toronto Star: As we follow their adventures, it's impossible to ignore how poorly women come off in this story, alternatively as nags, cheats, liars and cloying opportunists. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: He's helped by charismatic, pleasingly ambivalent performances by all involved, and while a later penalty sequence is needlessly prolonged, it doesn't diminish the film's cumulative effect. Serious fun. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Rudo y Cursi is enjoyable, with an engaging ensemble cast anchored by the charismatic performances of Luna and Bernal. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Energetic fun. Read more

Dan Zak, Washington Post: This is not a sports movie. But for lovers of Luna and Bernal, especially Luna and Bernal together, Rudo y Cursi will be a quick, harmless, caffeinated booster shot until their next collaboration. Read more