Mexican cuties Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal, who broke through to U.S. audiences in Alfonso Cuaron’s art-house sleeper Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001), reunite for this run-of-the mill drama written and directed by Alfonso’s brother, Carlos Cuaron. The stars play half-brothers who toil on a banana plantation, compete on a local soccer team, and dream of better things; Rudo (Luna) wants to play sports professionally, but when a scout turns up at one of their games and tells the brothers he can take only one of them, an impromptu contest on the field gives the big break to Cursi (Bernal). 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. In Spanish with subtitles. R, 102 min.
Rudo y Cursi
R • 2009