"American Pie" is neatly transformed into Spanish paella in "Love
Expresso," a comedy about a quartet of twentysomething emotional
sub-literates that combines broken hearts and breaking wind to deja vu
effect. A couple decent comic scenes and two good perfs rise above the
pop soundtrack, navel-gazing and scatology. Any offshore interest is
likely to stem from the fact that Hispanic teens have happily guzzled
down "Expresso" and made the late June release the surprise local B.O.
hit of the year.
Cocky barkeeper Javi (Asier Etxeandia), recently dumped Pedro (Alejo
Sauras), conventional Dani (Javier Godino) and overweight failure Hugo
(Diego Paris), who lives with his overbearing grandmother Paca (Terele
Pavez), spend their lives fretting about girls. Javi falls for beautiful
Alma (Elena Ballesteros); Pedro seeks revenge on his ex-g.f.'s new
lover; Hugo seeks sex and finds love with Bea (Lucia Jimenez); Dani does
little. Some attempts are made at grounding the stories in real emotion
(Hugo is an orphan), but they're buried under an avalanche of crudeness
and cliches. Paris has the makings of a decent comic talent, and
dependable vet Pavez delivers a deliciously scary turn.
