Will Ferrell is one of those people that you either ‘get’ or just don’t understand. And he has no real fear in him, apparently: he’s happy to lampoon everyone from George Bush (on Saturday Night Live) to news anchors (in Anchorman) to every kind of sport bio-pic (Talladega Nights, Blades of Glory) to–this time around–the ancient, revered, and slightly ridiculous tradition of the telenovela in his newest, the all-Spanish, fully subtitle silliness called Casa de mi Padre.
What’s amazing is how many distinguished actors–both Latino and otherwise–that he’s managed to rope into the broad parody of Latino soap opera. In the clip below, you’ll see glimpses (or more than glimpses) of everyone from Diego Luna and the late Pedro Armendariz, Jr. to Gael García Bernal, Genesis Rodriguez and Efren Ramirez. El Puma even appears as a wedding singer.
As with most of Ferrell’s output, there doesn’t seem to be a malicious bone in his body, he just loves making absurd fun of various social icons, whether it’s figure skaters or basketball coaches. But the elusive nature of his humor is summed up in the comments left on YouTube. As usual, they range from the hysterically praiseworthy (e.g., “WILL FERREL ROCKS!!!!”) to the befuddled (“Someone please inform me how this is funny.”)
Judge for yourself in the clip below, and mark your calendar: Casa de mi Padre opens citywide March 16.
