‘America’s Bride’: A beautiful transoceanic comedy

If something tremendously Spanish, this is the sainete. Initially conceived as a theatrical piece that served as entertainment between acts of a larger dramatic piece, it gradually acquired its own identity and, cinematically, leapt to become the comedy that has so well defined the seventh art since its inception. Spanish comedy, specifically, is one of the genres that tends to connect more and better with the audience, thanks to its lightness and its main objective, which is pure entertainment. In that line, ‘La novia de América’ arrives in theaters, the return of Alfonso Albacete to the big screen.

Eight years have passed since Alfonso Albacete released ‘Solo química’, his latest proposal destined for theatrical release. This time, the director dares with a production from an international perspective, being a co-production between Spain and Mexico, which reaches national commercial theaters after the successful passage in the North American country, where it triumphed on the Vix+ platform. The premise is simple Ana, a protagonist who is still recovering from a strong love disappointment and discovering that her father, a sixty-year-old widower only a couple of years earlier, has decided to remarry in Mexico and does so with a beautiful girl who turns out to be younger than her.

Sure, audiences will know how this story of intertwining plays out. Everything goes according to plan, Albacete, who writes the screenplay together with Charo Albacete, take advantage of culture-clash comedy clichés, in the purest Dany Boon style in “My Family from the North” or Emilio Martínez-Lázaro in “Ocho apellidos vascos”, leading to a transoceanic romance. Here you can see how that confrontation is heightened by a radically different style of humor, something that reflects beautifully Look at Ibarguren, who appears to be possessed by the spirit of Jennifer Aniston or Jennifer Lópeztwo queens of Hollywood romantic comedies.

Romantic comedy with a thug spirit

It is Ibarguren who lifts this comedy, thanks to a dry and direct humorous style that knows how to integrate with the Latin and soft character of the Mexican protagonists, with Christian Vázquez at the helmwho becomes Ana’s lead. Both exude chemistry, although what makes ‘América’s Bride’ a different rom-com is its touch of hoodlum humor, in which some of its supporting characters stand out.

Here plays a key role Pepa Charro, also known as La Terremoto de Alcorcón, which has a series of sequences with which the show is stolen. In fact they suggest that it would have been wonderful if, despite Miren Ibarguren being very good, she was the absolute protagonist of this proposal.

With that touch of hoodlum humor and a cast in which its actresses shine, ‘La novia de América’ is what it offers, a beautiful proposal, which seeks to find a complicit moment with the audience based on laughter and the story of a young woman who believes in love again, with the addition of trying to make the diversity of relationships visible, both in terms of nationality and otherwise (with LGBT characters, for example). Romantic comedy with a rogue soul.

Note: 5

The best: Pepa Charro moment turned into La Llorona.

Worse: It’s terribly predictable, even its humor isn’t particularly groundbreaking, and how about questioning the importance of separate ownership?