Rudo y Cursi
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: May 8, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The intimate movie hums with a back-in-the-hood vibe that gets the two stars playing contentedly, and delightfully, for the love of local filmmaking. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Rudo y Cursi is as fatalistic as any film noir, but it's played for cartoonish screwball comedy. At once smooth and frantic, filled with cozy clutter and vulgar jive, the movie subsumes its moralizing in frat-house entertainment. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Mr. Cuarón directs with a hand that's as sure as it is deft. The music is terrific, though I can't say the same for the fusty subtitles, and Adam Kimmel's cinematography bathes the movie's cheerful absurdities in a beautiful glow. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRobert Abele
Mexico has had its share of debilitating transnational news lately, but the arrival of the puckishly entertaining, fleet-of-foot drama-comedy Rudo y Cursi deserves a hearty welcome. Read full review
80
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Hilarious, satirical and melancholy, Rudo y Cursi may not go as deep as "Y Tu Mamá También," but it has a similar vivacity. It turns this tale of brotherly bonds and sibling rivalry--a veiled allegory of the Cuarón boys themselves?--into one of the year's most memorable offerings. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Carlos Cuaron's otherwise terrific new comedy Rudo Y Cursi barely survives its third-act "Goodfellas" descent into seedy coke-and-crime drama. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Luna and García Bernal display the kind of chemistry that makes you overlook the clichés in the script by first-time director Carlos Cuarón. Sometimes good-natured fun is enough. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Rudo y Cursi (which roughly translates to tough and corny) is more raucous and slight than the contemplative "Y Tu Mama," but it is an undeniably entertaining rags-to-riches-to-rags comedy. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The rags-to-riches-to-rags trajectory is shopworn, but the sibling rivalries are cantankerous and goofy and Bernal's Tato, who fancies himself a pop singing star, wouldn't make the first cut on "American Idol." Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This is not a deep movie, but it's a broad one. It reunites three talents who had an enormous hit with "Y Tu Mama Tambien": actors Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, and Carlos Cuaron, who wrote that film and writes and directs this one. Instead of trying to top themselves with life and poignancy, they wisely do something for fun. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Rudo y Cursi is a grave and calculated affront to the men of Mexico, and that's the source of its roistering charm. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
It's a film that gently spoofs such cultural staples as ranchera music, illegal gambling, labor exploitation and tabloid media. And it's the sort of film that sneaks serious themes and emotions in just when you think it's about to dissolve into farce. Small but largely satisfying. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Fierce, profane and hilarious comedy. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
That the fantasy comes crashing back to earth seems all but inevitable. That Rudo y Cursi doesn't crash in the process - that's muy bien. Read full review
70
Film ThreatScott Knopf
What Cuarón and friends have done is made a cute genre film. What's the harm in that? I’m sure Bernal will be back to his edgy roots soon enough. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDuane Byrge
Rudo y Cursi scores from every angle -- comic, personal and cross-cultural. Read full review
70
VarietyJohn Anderson
Picture scores a solid goal for its national cinema and the cause of comedy. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
While the film is lively and engaging, it also, in the end, feels a little thin, largely because it is unsure of how earnestly to treat its own lessons about fate, ambition and brotherly love. Read full review
60
SlateDana Stevens
Carlos Cuarón's screenplay is rambling and unstructured but full of vibrant dialogue. As in "Y Tu Mamá También," the insults the two leads hurl at one another are creatively filthy. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
An occasionally amusing but strained fable about the dangers and delights of sibling rivalry that asks us to believe (for instance) that soccer scouts roam Mexico looking for 30-year-old recruits. Read full review
50
Washington PostDan Zak
Enjoyable but forgettable. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Run-of-the mill drama. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Living up to its title, Rudo y Cursi is appealingly tough and corny but contains little that causes these elements to congeal into anything greater. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
It's really a lazy comedy that is content telling a crude and corny Hollywood story with a Mexican accent. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Luna and Bernal have amiability, but not enough to earn a recommendation for this clichéd movie. Read full review
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