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Two hick soccer players from the Mexican sticks are plucked out of nowhere by an unscrupulous talent scout, become superstars of the first order, then discover that real happiness might actually be back home in the Jalisco countryside.

Rudo y Cursi, which reunites those Y Tu Mamá También muchachos, Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, is an offbeat hybrid of knockabout farce, sentimentality, and social commentary. That it works—gloriously so—can be attributed to the charisma of its stars and the solid performance of its writer/director, Carlos Cuarón (who also co-wrote Y Tu Mamá).

The film opens on a banana plantation, where Beto (Luna) is the foreman, and Tato (Bernal) a harried laborer. Half-brothers sprung from the loins of a mother who seems to hook up with all the wrong men, they live with an extended family that is constantly squabbling, and where beer drinking and the local soccer league are the boys’ primary pursuits.

Wistful, sweet Tato (nicknamed Cursi, or “corny”), who is completely without talent, nonetheless dreams of becoming a singer. Beto (known as Rudo, or “rough”), a more belligerent sort, just wants to live his life in peace. But when a soccer scout stumbles into town and makes an offer to take one of them—solamente uno—to Mexico City and primetime fútbol glory, a heated rivalry begins.

Tato, a goal scorer, is the first to go, but after he attains success, he convinces the scout to bring goalkeeper Beto along. Beto also hits it big, and the film recounts the brothers’ experiences with fame, women, drugs, gambling, narcotraficantes of every shape and size (one of whom marries their half-sister), and their inevitable fall from grace.

Links Rudo y Cursi official site

Bernal and Luna have wonderful chemistry, and their incessant squabbling is fun to watch. If Bernal has the funniest bit in the film—a music video in which the tone-deaf Tato tries to act like a norteño singing star—Luna still scores with his comic anger and slow burns (you can practically see the steam coming out of his ears).
 
Rudo y Cursi also has a social/political subtext—the world the boys flounder around in is ruled by corruption and violence—but it’s never so overt that it takes away from the fun. Which is probably a key reason why this is already one of the biggest hits in Mexican film history and looks to recreate Y Tu Mamá’s success in the States.

This is the first film from Cha Cha Chá, a production company founded by the Mexican directors Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro, and Alejandro González Iñárritu. If Rudo y Cursi is any indication, their subsequent efforts will be eagerly anticipated. Viva Mexico!