'Rudo Y Cursi'

'Rudo Y Cursi' (R) **

Writer and Director: Carlos Cuaron
Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna, Adriana Paz, Guillermo Francella, Jessica Mas

"Rudo Y Cursi" is a sports movie set in Mexico that pretty much goes through the motions and left me cold and uninvolved. To me it did not seem real, plausible or highly original even though it was set in a fresh location. The film's two stars are very good here and talented actors but I thought the story let them down. Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna are hot young actors who have become sex symbols due to their smash international hit "Y Tu Mama Tambien" which was a hot and effective movie. This movie is goofier, cliched and I never felt like I was in a real place once the soccer scenes started. I like the beginning set in Mexico as the two leads toil away in the fields doing hard manual labor. Then when the two talented soccer players go through the usual ups and downs of this type of sports movie and make it big on the soccer circuit the movie let me down. It has nothing new and fresh to say about soccer or about the rise and sometimes fall of a sports athlete. I wanted to like this movie but it never made me feel like anything was real and as it unfolded I got bored with it. The two leading actors are very good and will bounce back I am sure. "Rudo Y Cursi" is now on DVD.