The movie has some good comic material, but the editing is horrible, the jokes go a little overboard and lack subtlety, and the director seems to care more about the unnecessary plot than the deliverance of humor. However, it is still an improvement from the usual archaic, unsophisticated, corny Chilean Comedy.
The editing makes me feel like I am watching a 90s sitcom. All the movie lacks is the live studio audience in the background and a catchy theme song in the beginning to be a perfect candidate for a spot on the WB's prime time programming. Another annoying thing about the editing is the childish fart sounds used for comic relief. Truth be told, some jokes in the movie are actually funny. The audience doesn't need a whoopee cushion sound to let them know they have to laugh. The comic material in the movie had some backbone but was crippled by the editing.
The humor revolves mainly around sexual innuendos, as most of Chilean humor does.I am not saying that this is a bad thing, just that sexual innuendos and vulgar remarks seem childish without the appropriate deliverance. Subtlety is the key word here. The writers should have spent more time thinking of the subtlety of the delivery of the joke instead of working on the plot and substance which have minor importance in a comic film.
As a comedy, the film should have focused mainly on making people laugh, instead of revealing social taboo topics. I mean, the audience of a porn film do not care about the troubled life of the characters, but rather what type of penetration scenes will be in the film. In the same way a comedy/romantic comedy should not focus on relevant social issues, but rather on delivering well developed comic scenes and a worm happy ending. In fact, most great comedies have subliminal plots such as a crazy night in Vegas, a 40 year old virgin, or a day of skipping school. Needless to say, there have been many comedies that have incorporated relevant topics without loosing their humor, however this is not one of them.
Not all about the movie is bad. Both characters Papitas, and the professor are quite entertaining. I could definitely see a modern sitcom revolving around these characters. Also, the movie shows some of the first usage of sarcastic and cynical comedy in Chilean cinema, which is an advance from their usual immature comedy. The beginning of the movie is quite entertaining (besides the Nickelodeon editing) and the film does manage to express some irony about idiosyncrasies of upper class Chileans. Maybe it's the strong influence of the catholic religion, the lack of Jewish immigrants, or that most of their television revolves around soap operas that make Chilean comedy so old fashion, but one thing this movie does show is that the entertainment industry in Chile is evolving, 10 years behind the rest of the developed world but still, evolving.
