Obra Maestra

Obra Maestra (2000), or Masterpiece, is a comedy staring Ariadna Gil, Santiago Segura and Pablo Carbonell. Segura and Carbonell have decided to make a film, and won't rest until famous actress and world class bitch Gil agrees to be in it. When she expresses nothing but disdain for their super 8mm effort, they kidnap her, and force her to appear. The film within the film is full of trite situations, and, to make matters worse, musical numbers.

NUDITY REPORT

Ariadna Gil shows her breasts in three different scenes.

Gil has "bitch" down pat, and Carbonall and Segura are believable as the inept actor and director, but most of the humor didn't work for me.

The one IMDB comments gives the films plusses very succinctly.

"So, you want to make movies? Then you must see this one. Spanish comedians Pablo Carbonell and Santiago Segura gave an unexpected dramatic twist with this movie... pathetic wanna-be film-makers kidnap a huge star (Ariadna Gil) in order to shoot their own movie. What follows is a heart-breaking story about the distance between wishes and reality, between expectations and talent. It's hard not to empathize with the characters, and the movie has a few great sequences, but, somehow it is too pathetic. Anyways, I really liked this one. Just give it a try."

not available in Region 1

While I understand why he liked it, it is the very reason I didn't. I was expecting a comedy, got a tragedy. Still, with good technical and artistic values, and good performances, you might enjoy it.

The Critics Vote

no English reviews online.

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 6.1/10

with their dollars: an unimpressive 245,000 admissions in Spain (about as popular as a $10 million picture in the USA)

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is a C+.