Sometimes all you want to do is to settle into a film seat with popcorn in your hands, and not have to worry about life’s all too real problems. Or to have the film comment on How We Live Now. Or to have the film be a treatise on the State Of The World. Lord knows we have enough films that do that. Sometimes all you want to see is a fun, soufflé-light comedy with a good heart. And an abundance of silliness up its sleeves.
PUERTO RICANS IN PARIS (opening in San Diego, Friday June 10th) is just that film. In the inanity of its plot, it could give KEANU a run for its money. And yet, PUERTO RICANS IN PARIS resonates with a little more sincerity, a little more ballast amidst all the goofiness. And is there goofiness here! I will attempt to summarize the plot as thus: two New York detectives of Puerto Rican lineage are recruited to travel to Paris and solve the mystery of a stolen, coveted new handbag by a top fashion designer. See what I mean? I defy you to come up with something goofier. But to watch the film is to notice a smile come on your face in the first five minutes, and to have that smile stay stubbornly through the last reel. In fact if I mention the cast – Luis Guzman, Edgar Garcia, Rosario Dawson and Rosie Perez – doesn’t that alone make you smile?
We were lucky to catch this film at the Los Angeles Film Festival last year, and we covered it on our podcast at that time. You can have a listen to the podcast at:
https://www.moviewallas.com/2015/06/episode-280-2015-los-angeles-film-festival-part-1/
PUERTO RICANS IN PARIS is running an enviable 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and so many reviewers can’t be wrong. Go catch this film. It is the sort of small-budget film that deserves to be a breakout hit on the grounds of its easy laughs and open heart. Help it become that breakout hit. This might just be the antidote to the superhero fatigue you know you are feeling.
