Living up to the expectations of one's in-laws is often difficult and thus a delicious subject for a comedy. In Dominic Harari and Teresa Pelegri's romantic comedy Only Human the premise is given additional twist originating from the long-running conflicts in the Middle-East: a TV-reporter Leni (Marián Aguilera) is bringing her new Palestinian boyfriend Rafi (Guillermo Toledo) to meet her Jewish family in Madrid for the first time. Of course, revealing the nervous Rafi's heritage creates extra worries for the family's fussy mother Gloria (Norma Aleandro) who is struggling with the dinner preparations to begin with. Leni's promiscuous sister Tania (María Botto) and her highly orthodox brother David (Fernando Ramallo) aren't much help, not to even mention the blind and senile grandfather Dudu (Max Berliner) and Tania's young and restless daughter Paula (Alba Molinero).
The movie trusts mostly tried and true conventions of the "in-law comedy" subgenre: there's hectic bumbling, series of misunderstandings and plenty of awkward moments, all acted in a fast-paced, energetic manner typical for Spaniards. The jokes are hardly original but adequately entertaining all the same, so the movie is easily on par with other similar comedy hits like Meet the Parents (2000), Father of the Bride (1991) and their respective sequels. During the last third or so the film starts turning a bit more serious, or shall we say expands its horizon to darker comedy, after the storyline of the family's amnesiac, potentially unfaithful father Ernesto (Mario Martín) gets started and insecurities of both internal and external origin begin coming out.
The visuals look very nice especially for a hectic rom-com; the greenish lighting in the family's apartment could perhaps be more typically found in bleak kitchen sink dramas and makes a nice contrast to the dark night outside, as the entire story takes place during a single evening. The long office corridors in the last act are also neatly presented on the screen, even if the movie doesn't really aim to be a meticulously composed collection of art shots, nor does it have to. The actors are also amusing in their roles, especially Toledo as the bookworm-y Rafi and Aleandro as Gloria who essentially carries the film with her Spanish temperament. Marián Aguilera looks very beautiful and fits in her role well, making sure that Leni's romance with Rafi rings true.
Although there is a lot to like in Only Human, I feel the 90-minute runtime is stretching the material a bit too thin: the basic elements of the story (comedic, dramatic and romantic) have been used many times before, so it is not as easy to get excited about the whole anymore. Nevertheless, as I mentioned before, the movie is not worse than its kind in general and the Spanish energy adds something of a special atmosphere when compared to many American movies, so the film is surely worth a recommendation to comedy fans, why not others as well.
The movie trusts mostly tried and true conventions of the "in-law comedy" subgenre: there's hectic bumbling, series of misunderstandings and plenty of awkward moments, all acted in a fast-paced, energetic manner typical for Spaniards. The jokes are hardly original but adequately entertaining all the same, so the movie is easily on par with other similar comedy hits like Meet the Parents (2000), Father of the Bride (1991) and their respective sequels. During the last third or so the film starts turning a bit more serious, or shall we say expands its horizon to darker comedy, after the storyline of the family's amnesiac, potentially unfaithful father Ernesto (Mario Martín) gets started and insecurities of both internal and external origin begin coming out.
The visuals look very nice especially for a hectic rom-com; the greenish lighting in the family's apartment could perhaps be more typically found in bleak kitchen sink dramas and makes a nice contrast to the dark night outside, as the entire story takes place during a single evening. The long office corridors in the last act are also neatly presented on the screen, even if the movie doesn't really aim to be a meticulously composed collection of art shots, nor does it have to. The actors are also amusing in their roles, especially Toledo as the bookworm-y Rafi and Aleandro as Gloria who essentially carries the film with her Spanish temperament. Marián Aguilera looks very beautiful and fits in her role well, making sure that Leni's romance with Rafi rings true.
Although there is a lot to like in Only Human, I feel the 90-minute runtime is stretching the material a bit too thin: the basic elements of the story (comedic, dramatic and romantic) have been used many times before, so it is not as easy to get excited about the whole anymore. Nevertheless, as I mentioned before, the movie is not worse than its kind in general and the Spanish energy adds something of a special atmosphere when compared to many American movies, so the film is surely worth a recommendation to comedy fans, why not others as well.