Y Tu Mama Tambien [2001]

Customer Reviews:

Top Ten of All Time.......2008-03-02

This has to be one of the best coming of ages of films in its genre. I've read reviews that compare this to American Pie but please do not let this put you of.

This is an intelligent, well written and brilliantly acted film. Its stars the wonderful Maribel Verdu as its central female character, who is charmastic and a joy to watch.

The story centers losely on two breakthrough performaces by its two male leads (Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal) and their quest to find the ultimate beach. Centering on character interactions, humans emotions and the power of absolute honesty, this is truly a wonderful film.

Average customer rating:

Funny, sad and very, very rude
Great fun - with some serious messages thrown in
A pretty good film.
Oh, those randy Mexicans!
Judge for yourself

Y Tu Mama Tambien [2001]
Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal , Maribel Verdu , and Diego Luna
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

All Drama | Drama | Categories | DVD | Video

Spanish | World Cinema | Categories | DVD | Video

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DVD | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B00006JY0G
Release Date: 2002-10-07

Amazon.co.uk Review

If you're in need of a teen road movie that's more than a collection of "tit-n-bum" jokes, then look no further than Y Tu Mama Tambien ("And Your Mother Too"). Alfonso Cuaron (yes, the director signed up for Harry Potter 3) has managed to create a sexy road movie without a single cheerleader popping up in anyone's bed. Instead he brings together a strong cast of Spanish/Mexican actors--including the rising star Gael García Bernal and the enigmatic Maribel Verdú--with a heady mixture of dusty roads and raging hormones.

Leaving the poverty and grim reality of Amores Perros (the other hit Mexican movie of recent times, also starring Bernal) far behind, Y Tu Mama Tambien is set among the upper classes where two teenage friends, Julio and Tenoch, are left in a state of limbo when their girlfriends take a trip to Europe. But rather than resting on their laurels, they choose to chase a much bigger prize: Tenoch's cousin's wife, Luisa. When she takes up their offer to go on a trip to a mystical beach, the boys can't believe their luck; little do they know that Luisa is using them as a means to run away and forget. Here begins the boys' trip towards adulthood as they learn to control their hormones, jealousies and selfishness. Y Tu Mama Tambien's explicit scenes are more than mere titillation, just as the plot is more than a simple sex comedy. --Nikki Disney

Customer Reviews:

Funny, sad and very, very rude.......2007-09-18

Having loved "Azkaban" and "Children of Men" I decided to seek out more of Alfonso Cuaron's work. So first up was "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and I have to say, what a brilliant film. It sort of plays out like a continental "Bill and Ted" with the beautiful scenery of "Motorcycle Diaries" and the observation humour of "Amelie". That said, it is also a very sobering film that acts as rights of passage for the two young leads (excellent performances from both, including "Science of Sleep's Gael García Bernal) whilst shining a light on the ordinary people and endemic poverty of Mexico.
One word of warning though, this is a very rude film and certainly not for the prudish. Whatever, you need to see this film immediately, it is absolutely superb and the characters will stay with you for a very long time.

Great fun - with some serious messages thrown in.......2007-06-13

This film cleverly and effortlessly interweaves a gorgeous 'coming of age' story and all the joys and pains of late adolescence, with a series of very serious social/political statements about Mexico and the wider world. In fact, a range of sombre life issues are tackled, yet despite the bleak subjects it addresses, this film exudes the spirit, energy and passion of youth/early adulthood throughout.

As for the sex scenes - well, the film starts with one (just as the excellent Betty Blue does), but I did not find any of them explicit/offensive. And as sexual discovery/sexual responsibility form a major part of the story, it would have been impossible to make this film without them. All the sex scenes are very inoffensive and to be honest, given the subject matter, the amount of sex/nudity involved is actually quite modest.

And let's not get away from the film itself, which is excellent on all levels. The three lead performances are exceptional throughout and far superior to anything you will see coming out of Hollywood.

One thing - I had to watch it twice to fully appreciate both the film itself and the very important messages it was trying to convey.

Enjoyable on many levels and I would highly recommend it.

A pretty good film........2007-01-22

I've given this film 4 stars as I feel it could have explored more than it did.

It is a good film though, and although it contains some sex scenes - it isn't a pornographic film as some people have made out in the past (some sites label this as a soft-core porn film, which it certainly isn't). Any scenes of sex aren't graphic (I don't think so anyway) and they are used to progress/develop the story.

Infact, most of the sex scenes are over as quick as they begin, and quite amusing. The "looking for the passport" scene is almost a comedy sketch, and the 2 scenes where Luisa beds (or cars!) Julio and Tenoch shows Luisa's amusement at the boys 'prowess'.

It seems that some people get too hung up about the sex in this film and see it as the only thing this film has to offer.

This film is about the relationship between two friends. How they fall out and become friends again. And how they separate once again.

The dialogue is a bit juvenile at times. But this is a film about two young men who are juvenile, and how a relationship with an adult affects their lives.

It's nice to see a road-trip film about actual relationships between the road-trippers themselves. This isn't the moronic rubbish that you may have seen in the past.

Oh, those randy Mexicans!.......2007-01-19

A translation of the title of this movie into English would yield something like "And Your Mother Too," which would echo a phrase often used in so-called "mother talk" or "wolfing." (If you're gonna wolf, you better wolf fast/ 'cause your old lady's got a face like a bulldog's Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies...)

Having been brought up in the United States and having attended the public schools I am no stranger to the phenomenon of teenaged boys being teenaged boys, having been there and done that myself, including the hazy, sunny obligatory motor trip to Tijuana and points south. But what struck me while watching this fascinating film was how very like the guys I went to school with are Tenoch and Julio. In fact I was a little reminded of the song "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" by Paul Simon. Not much would have to be changed to see this as an American movie about young people in America near the end of the 20th century.

But this is about Mexico and it takes place in Mexico and even though Julio and Tenoch rag on "Team America" there is no doubt that their lives and the styles they copy and take as their own are enormously influenced by American culture, for better or for worse.

Gael Garcia Bernal who previously starred in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Amores perros (2000) plays Julio, who is from a middle class family. Diego Luna plays his friend Tenoch (named after Tenochtitlan, Aztec founder of Mexico City) who is the son of a prominent Mexican politician. Both boys live the kind of lives of plenty and privilege that the average Mexican can only dream about. And so there is a certain decadent and hedonistic quality to the way they embrace life. But what director Alfonso Cuaron captures with these boys and their adventure to an imaginary beach with an older woman is the zest of youth that throws itself wildly and madly into sex, drugs and the search for experience and the fulfillment of youthful urges. What they learn from Luisa (Maribel Verdu) is something most young men really lust after, that is, how to please a woman sexually--well, at least they experience a first course.

Cuaron shows us teenaged boys as teenaged boys are: raunchy, randy, irreverent, and as a old army sergeant used to say, "young and dumb and full of..." you-know-what. Well, not dumb. Both boys are sharp and quick to learn about life, and as the movie ends and they go their separate ways, we know that both will go on to college and make a good life for themselves. In this sense this is a coming of age movie with Lusia as mentor to the boys.

Looking at the movie a little more deeply we have to ask, why does Lusia go on the trip with Tenoch and Julio, and why does she let herself go, so to speak? We learn that her husband has cheated on her (again, by the way) and had the temerity to call her up immediately after the fact and confess. Later we learn that she has an even more compelling reason to indulge herself in a youthful fling. (But of course you should see the movie to find out what that is.)

The sense of freedom and naturalness that Cuaron captures, not only in the area of human sexuality, but in the spirit of a vast country moving from a largely agrarian society to an industrial one, and the bewilderment that such rapid change makes people feel, is made especially vivid by the focus on the young, since they are the ones moving the fastest. (Of course this focus doesn't hurt at the box office, since young people make up the bulk of viewers, in Mexico as elsewhere.) However, despite what some reviewers have suggested, this movie addresses Mexican poverty in only a token way. This is a movie about privileged Mexicans who could, as I intimated above, pass for Americans or Europeans with only a minor cultural shift.

Be forewarned that the sexuality shown here is about as graphic as any you'll see this side of an X rating, which is okay with me. Certainly it is better than the usual violence that Hollywood serves up. In fact I hope this movie triggers a change in the movie industry away from the belief that you have to titillate the mass audience with violence in order to be successful. Sex will do just fine.

Bottom line: a vital, vivid romp that will delight especially the young. Clearly this is not a movie for prudes or social conservatives--and that's an understatement!

Judge for yourself.......2006-12-28

Having read other reviews of this film, it seemed to me that people either love it or hate it. I decided I would have to see for myself. I have been watching many foreign language films recently and compared to the quality of films such as 'Amores Perros', 'Nine Queens' and 'Son of the Bride' this film did not cut it - the annoying amount of frustrated teenage masturbation and wham bam sex scenes overtook any real interest the film may have held for me. Even the gorgeous Gael Garcia Bernal could not save it because his character was just too juvenile and irritating. Maybe I am just an old fart - but I need more from film than this had to offer. I suppose if you are curious you must see it and judge for yourself.

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