Chasing Papi
Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 24th, 2003
Synopsis
The “Papi” of the title is Thomas “Papi” Fuentes (Eduardo Verastegui), last word in ladies’men. He is romancing high-born Patricia (Jaci Velasquez) in New York, lawyer Lorena (RoselynSanchez) in Chicago, and Charo-clone Cici (Sofia Vergara) in Miami. This is already exhausting,but when all three women decide simultaneously to surprise him at home, all hell breaks loose.Roselyn Sanchez, here reduced to eye candy, has a much meatier role in the recent releaseNightstalker>, and the jokes are as old as the Precambrian Shield, but only half as funny.Tiresome.
Audio
You’d better like Salsa and similar rhythms, because it plays almost non-stop on thesoundtrack. The music is certainly given a good mix, and if this is you’re thing, you’ll bebopping along to the disc. The music is so omnipresent that there is little to notice by way of rearspeaker sound effects or environment, but there simply don’t appear to be that many to benoticed in the first place: this is a film of dialogue and music, both of which come throughclearly.
Video
Both full frame and 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen ratios are available on this double-sidedDVD. The colours are very warm and vivid, and the contrasts work well as the movie jumpsfrom live action to animated transition and back again. Blacks and flesh tones are very solid too,and the image is sharp. All in all a perfectly acceptable transfer, free of grain and otherdistractions.
Special Features
Generally speaking, the extras are fluffy, promotional, or both. The commentary is bydirector Linda Mendoza, DP Xavier Perez Grobet, and the four leads, and is in a mixture ofEnglish and Spanish (subtitled). As is frequently the case with such large round-tablediscussions, much of the conversation is silly and irrelevant. The widescreen side also has apromotional featurette (a glorified trailer, really), and the fullscreen side has a bloopers montage(nothing screamingly funny here), the theatrical trailer, an ad for the soundtrack and a musicvideo by Huey Dunbar featuring Fat Joe. The menu’s main page, intro and transitions areanimated and scored.
Closing Thoughts
An old-as-the-hills farce, with a pace that’s frantic enough, but that fails to be funny.
Special Features List
- Audio Commentary
- “Making Of” Featurette
- Outtakes and Bloopers
- Theatrical Trailer
- Music Promo
- Music Video
