Tato (Gael García Bernal) and Beto (Diego Luna), two brothers living a hard life of manual labour in rural Mexico, have a simple dream of saving enough money to build their mother her dream house. But fate has other plans; a friendly game of soccer leads to first one, then the other being taken on by the nation's top talent scout, Batuta (Guillermo Francella), and gives rise to the first of many emotional head to heads between brothers. Suddenly, they find themselves living the high life of star athletes - fame, riches, fast cars, and beautiful women. But every dream has a dark side, and when they are forced to compete on rival teams, bitterness brews between them. Mutual trust gives way to resentment and betrayal, while the dangers of their wild new lifestyles threaten debt and the safety of their entire family. In the end, all will ride on the one big game between their two clubs. Tato and Beto must face each other on the pitch but also reunite again as brothers before they lose everything they had once dreamed of.
Special Agent Matti
Rudo y Cursi is a morality tale, the moral of which is that poor people shouldn't get ideas above their station. They are poor for a reason and if you give them money they'll just throw it away on fripperies. I'm not happy with this concept but it does make for a reasonable bit of Mexican drama. There isn't much soccer even though both Gael García and Diego are capable players. There are some drugs.
I expect more from a Cuarón.
The drama, Mexico, sport movie Rudo y Cursi (Tough and Corny) is directed by Carlos Cuarón and stars Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Guillermo Francella.
M (Coarse language, sex scenes, nudity and drug use)
101 minutes (1:41 hours)
Film: 30 July 2009 - Melbourne, Sydney
