Mari(dos)

This Mari (dos) is a commercial product made to entertain us , a comedy that has been moderately received by the Spanish public. The film is set in our time , we know from the outset that an avalanche has occurred at a ski resort (perhaps in the Aragonese Pyrenees, although the specific location is not mentioned) that has killed a large number of people and injured many others. Towards that ski resort , here fictitiously called Malpaso, Toni (Paco León) , a Catalan businessman, and Luis (Ernesto Alterio) , a comic book artist from Madrid , are heading ; the wives of both have been injured by the avalanche , and are in a coma , in the local hospital . Toni picks up Emilio on the way , whose car has broken down , and they both arrive at the hospital at the same time ; there , to their surprise the name of his wife coincides, Laura Sánchez (Celia Freijeiro) , but that coincidence is not only nominal : it also seems to be that it is the same person . As they find out a surprising happening , the two men unintentionally discover that they are married with the same woman .

This Mari(dos) concentrates on the relationship among two off-the-wall roles , amusingly played by Paco León and Ernesto Alterio , two of the best Spanish comedians , both of whom are frequently omnipresents in the humor of the Spanish cinema . One of the few values of this ¨Mari (dos)¨ is to present us an unusual situation , not just in Spanish cinema , but in any international country : films with bigamists , or polygamists , men married to two or more women , and here there are of all kinds . However, those that deal with its opposite , polyandry , women married to two or more men at the same time, are quite a few rare films . This issue , certainly , has always been a much less common than others as polygamy or the ordinary adulteries . As it will be the subject that the word "bigamy" exists but not "biandria", which would be a woman with two husbands . The picture boasts of the good acting work by the two popular protagonists , despite their outlandish characters . I really like the very Sevillian Paco León with a funny Catalan accent , which is parodic but not hurtful ; Ernesto Alterio seems to play a character similar to the hateful thug from ¨Alex de la Iglesia's El cuarto pasajero¨ , only here he's the duped husband , not the shameless trickster who takes advantage of his other passengers in the aforementioned film . This is a disconcerting satire combined with romantic comedy and touches of road movie, being an austerily enjoyable and brightly colored film . The fact is that one of the attractions of this very modern film is , precisely , staging a case of polyandry , of course in a comedy key , with a more or less ironic humor and with the ambitious intention of filling the pocket of its producers , which seems to have not happened due to its limited succes .

This is not the only merit of the film : we also find it interesting that it has aspects very much of our time , such as dysfunctional couples , the phenomena of trans-children , as well as some curious movie-goers winks , such as the name of the supposed ski resort , ¨Malpaso¨ , the same name as Clint Eastwood's production company , which may have influenced the fact that composer Vanessa Garde's soundtrack contains sounds that seem unmistakably similar to the music of spaghetti-westerns . Of course , it also has rather negative things , such as the presence , once again, of the humor of opposite sides , the Madrileños and the Barcelonans , here with the laconic, curmudgeonly and grumpy man from Madrid , who could illustrate the "unfriendly" and the talkative, "good guy" Catalán, who, however , behind his bland appearance , will hide some hidden secret that allows for a certain funny gag . Containing some situations or moods that are not exactly distinguished , such as : swearings , bad-mouthed language , dirty humor , continuous sexual remarks , or scatological pieces , like that scene of the two "comaridos" urinating together and sizing it up like teenagers.

Pleasant comedy at times , with very professional staging , an acceptable narrative rhythm and a series of plot twists that maintain interest enough in the public , but the final results turn out to be really mediocre . It is noticeable in any case that the writings of the script are carried out by a couple like Pablo Alén and Breixo Corral , authors of the cinematic storylines of successful films as ¨3 bodas de más¨ and ¨Anacleto, secret agent¨ and series as ¨El Internado¨, ¨Los Serrano¨ or ¨Los Hombres de Paco¨. Director Alemany brings us a very mixed bag of outlandish characters , rapid dialogs , and absurd situations . This uneven film has its lights and its shadows . Lucia Alemany carries out a so-so but professional direction, she was successful a few years ago for his La inocencia (2019), which got nominations at the Goya, Feroz and Gaudí awards, a small Valencian film that got awesome critics . It is logical, reasonable and plausible that the new generations of good filmmakers make commercial films at the same time that they prepare their new and more exciting personal projects . Rating : 4.5/10 . Average but passable at times.