MGM

Don’t be fooled into thinking that Y Tu Mama Tambien is just another trite love triangle movie, one that would have some catchy Sum 41 or Weezer song in all the promos. This movie is about far more than that. It’s about the nature of friendship, the consequence of action, teenage machismo, self-realization and learning what it means to enjoy life. This isn’t the Mexican version of Road Trip, either. They don’t get into wacky hijinks or the comedy of the absurd. Almost everything about Y Tu Mama T...mbien elicits audience reaction through its genuineness, its ability to get viewers to recognize the reality in the sometimes unorthodox relationships. It’s also got one of the most smoldering sexy women I’ve seen on the big screen talking about some seriously caliente subject matter (and at least according to female viewers I’ve spoken two, the two young men are attractive, too).

Y Tu Mama Tambien proves that no matter what language is being spoken, no matter what country a story takes place in, teenage boys are teenage boys. Such is the case with Julio (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Tenoch (Diego Luna). They’re typically immature, sort-of adhering to a “boys club” manifesto (advocating such values as smoking pot and masturbating), splitting their sides over farting in a car and describing the bouquet. To each other, they put up a brave front at the idea that their women are heading abroad for the summer, shrugging it off as their chance to dip their beaks in other wells. When left alone with them, though, they’re sentimental and weepy (though that might just be to get them laid one last time, another sign of their age). They sit around, smoking pot and using the local country club when it’s closed on Mondays, and their summer starts slipping away from them, in relative ho-hum fashion. Even through some of their stranger behavior, they remain imminently identifiable, which is one of the many factors that make the film accessible to even the casual movie fan; one doesn’t have to have an interest in foreign movies to appreciate it. Moreover, it gives the audience a real chance to care about the boys, a credit to Garcia and Luna’s polished, authentic (and more than a little brave at this point in their careers) performances. They encounter the stunning Luisa (Maribel Verdu) at a family party. She’s stunning, and the two instantly try to ply her with their “charms.” Not long after the party, they convince her (or she decides) to go with them to a surfside paradise, a place only they know, a beach called “Boca del Ciel” (Heaven’s Mouth). The catch: it doesn’t exist. They made it up while trying to entice her, and now, they have to find such a place. Tenoch and Julio are resourceful young men, and eventually will set off in a beat up station wagon on a quest for the perfect beach. Along the way, they hope to have sex with Luisa…though neither of them are sure how, much less even thought of what that might do to their trip.