4/10
Below average Spanish comedy with the great Alfredo Landa that had much success at the box office
6 July 2016
The film deals with a young gynecologist , Pedro Andreu (Jean Sorel) , living in Toledo , he has his consulting room partially empty , while his neighbour Antón Gutiérrez (Alfredo Landa) , a gay fashion designer has his full business for his homosexuality . When Pedro is in Madrid participating at a gynecology conference , he sees Antonio at a Discoteque , as he is amusing himself along with some gorgeous girls . Antonio tells him he occasionally goes to Madrid to enjoy and in Toledo he poses as a gay to take clients . Then , Pedro's girlfriend Jacinta (Ira De Furstemberg) goes to Madrid and finds an extraordinary surprise , she meets his sweetheart Pedro living at an apartment with the gay Antón . As Jacinta thinks Pedro become a homosexual and problems ensue . Then , the gossips run throughout Toledo and that's why the consulting room is plenty of patients .

Embarrassing comedy that contains crazy events , laughs , amusement and absurd situations . It takes a simple concept , a duo of shameless friends execute petty tricks to disguise as gays so that they carry out their main purports : to make love beautiful young women , particularly foreign girls . "Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Fifth Floor Neighbour" is an essential and fundamental representation on the Spanish comedy . It benefits from the efficient acting by Alfredo Landa who steals the show as a false gay . In addition , the support cast is frankly excellent , filled with familiar faces and prestigious Spanish secondaries , such as : Isabel Garcés , Margot Cottens , Maria Isbert , Mara Laso , Angel Menendez , Emilio Rodríguez Guadalupe Muñoz Sampedro , Adrián Ortega , Licia Calderon , Sergio Mendizábal , and Alvaro De Luna , among others . And being a Spain/Italy co-production here appear some Italian secondaries , such as : Annabella Incontrera , Franco Balducci and Malisa Longo . Humor is sometimes cheesy and gross-out with numerous naughty and picaresque situations such as sex jokes , adulteries , jealousy , and erotic scenes . The film attempts to give laughs and it works here and there , resulting in an amusing though failed film . My feelings are extremely mixed but I must admit there are some brief and no very enjoyable laughters ; however , it also packs uneven comedy , piggy humor , and farcical happenings . There are some diverting jokes in the film and the cast , playing eccentric characters . Disconcerting screenplay by the prolific Juan José Alonso Millán , a writer and playwright who wrote lots of Spanish comedies .

The film was badly directed by Ramon Fernández , including great number of zooms , lousy pacing and ridiculous situations . Ramon was a decent craftsman , expert on Spanish comedy . His film debut was ¨Aquí Están Las Vicetiples¨ thanks to producer Vicente Escrivá , being followed by ¨Ahí Va Otro Recluta¨ , ¨Simón Contamos Contigo¨, ¨Matrimonio Al Desnudo¨, ¨Doctor Me Gustan Las Mujeres¨ and the successful sentimental comedy ¨Margarita Se LLama Mi Amor (1961) ¨ . He also made other genres as kiddies films , such as : ¨El Cristo Del Océano¨, ¨Aventuras De Enrique Y Ana¨ and a police story , at his best , : ¨Rueda De Sospechosos¨. And a nice adaptation of the classic written by Luis Vélez Guevara : ¨El Diablo Cojuelo¨. This "Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Fifth Floor Neighbour" resulted to be the most box office film of the Spanish cinema until ¨The Others¨, or ¨Los Otros¨ by Alejandro Amenábar .
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