How to be a Latin Lover Blu-ray Review
David Lee Roth sang about it. Richard Gere became a star playing one. The gigolo. A man who earns his living taking care of the needs of a wealthy woman. Add in a touch of Latino heat and you have the prescription for whatever may be ailing your aging grandmother. But it’s not as easy a career as it seems.
We first meet Maximo and Sara as children. Upset at how hard their father works to support the family, Maximo decides that when he grows up he will just find a rich woman to take care of him. We next meet him as a young adult (Derberg), where he is doing well spending time with some of the wealthy women that stay at the resort he works at. He catches the eye of the elderly Miss Peggy (Renee Taylor) and heads off to what he assumes will be a life of wealth and happiness. Twenty five years later they are still together, but whatever glow the relationship had is long gone. Maximo travels from room to room on one of his many hover-boards, pampered like the proverbial king of the castle. To celebrate their anniversary Peggy gives Maximo a beautiful watch. Realizing he’s forgotten the day, he takes her to a car dealership, where he buys her a car it’s obvious he’s chosen for himself. However, things go from great to bad when Miss Peggy becomes enamored with the much younger car salesman (Michael Cera) and sends Maximo packing. After a brief stay with his gigolo-buddy Rick (Lowe), he finds himself at the door of his sister Sara (Hayek), a widow with a young son. Can Maximo change? Does he even want to?
A funny film that looks like it was made by a group of friends, HOW TO BE A LATIN LOVER is a clever look at what seems to be an easy lifestyle but apparently isn’t. The cast is obviously having fun with the concept, and a lot of name people show up to make appearances, including Rob Cordry, Rob Riggle, Linda Lavin, Kristen Bell and Raquel Welch. The little star here is Raphael Alejandro, who plays Sara’s son, Hugo. He so wants to be like his uncle, copying his mannerisms and speech, that you have to smile each time he’s on screen. But the film belongs to Derbez, an actor I was not familiar with until this film. He has a very good natured attitude on screen and a good presence. He’s had a good career in his native Mexico and I see he’s going to be in the upcoming remake of OVERBOARD, presumably in the Kurt Russell role, so hopefully good things are ahead for him.
If I had a major quibble with the film it’s that the dialogue would jump from Spanish to English, with no rhyme or reason. I thought at first there was a problem with my settings but no matter how I set the disc up, it appeared to be intentional. Weird.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: The film is presented in a 2:40.1 aspect ratio and, as befits its title subject, is very bright and colorful.
Audio: The soundtrack is presented in DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 and is well mixed. The overlapping of the Spanish language has a habit of getting lost sometime but here it’s loud and clear.
Audio Commentary with Director Ken Marino, Film Editor John Daigle and Producer Ben Odell: Fairly entertaining with some good behind-the-scenes stories.
Show Me Your Sexy! Learning to Be a Latin Lover (17:36): Standard featurette full of clips from the film and cast conversations.
A Little Help From My Friends (11:10): Ken Marino, the film’s director, talks about how he recruited some of his more famous friends to cast the film.
Deleted and Extended Scenes (33.39): Almost 35 minutes of moments that weren’t ever missed.