Expected more

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Thrilling film with a Spanish-all star-cast including intriguing situations , abstract incidents , female nudity and lots of loving scenes . It deals with Miranda (Victoria Abril) , a forty-years-old woman who is a crew member of a nightly radio programme where she is an anchor girl in the radio talk show . But Miranda results to be also a real sex-junkie . She and her hubby Felix (Carmelo Gomez) , a police Inspector , are parents of a little girl (a very young Dafne Fernandez) . In order to deal with her sex addiction , she signs up for group therapy in a clinic run by Pepe Santander (Adolfo Fernandez) . Also in the therapy group is Javier (Javier Bardem) , a film producer and script-writer and sex-addicted , too . The two misfits hit off and a deep sexual relationship ensues . But things go awry when Javier finds out that his cell phone sex trysts have been secretly taped and being distributed all over city and subsequently blackmailed . Later on , issues get a little more complicated when Javier to be aware his ex-spouse is living with his business colleague (Sergi Lopez) . In addition , while investigating a killing case regarding a man in drag , Felix discovers his unfaithful wife has affair with Javier who is prime suspect of murder . Enjoyable thriller about sexual obsession and killings ; plenty of emotion , rough sex , profanities , thrills , mayhem and surprise ending . In the beginning it displays a cool animated title sequence full of color and really brilliant .¨Entre Las Piernas¨ or ¨Between legs¨ is Manuel Gomez Pereira's return to top form , with an intelligent and engaging script which uses moving situations to give us a good movie in a high suspense and complexity and that kept me entertained for the almost two hours of duration . Interesting screenplay from Yolanda García Serrano , Juan Luis Iborra , Manuel Gómez Pereira , based on a novel by Joaquín Oristrell , all of them are prestigious Spanish Screen-writers/Filmmakers . The flick develops a lot of steamy affairs among various characters , as there is random sex , oral sex , sex standing up , sex on couch , sex in car , among others . Rightly agreeable and fun-filled , milestone thriller which neatly combines nail-biting set pieces , entertaining situations and amusement . Flawless story with a quartet of sensational protagonists : Javier Bardem , Victoria Abril , Carmelo Gomez and Sergi Lopez . As nice acting by Victoria Abril as a sex-crazed woman obsessed to pursue sexual encounters with men , she parades sexily at her best and more relaxed and enticing than ever . Javier Bardem also gives a terrific performance as a successful scriptwriter and producer who is a sex-phone obsessed , too . Pay attention as one couple of veteran actors very well played give portentous interpretations , as usual . The only flaw I can find is that some of the story lines are left unexplained and some character end up being implausible . Including an unforgettable plethora of secondaries such as : Javier Albalá , María Adánez , Carmen Balagué , Roberto Álvarez , Alberto San Juan , Manuel Manquiña , and Adolfo Fernandez . And brief appearances from Blanca Portillo , Cristina Brondo , Ginés García Millán and Antonio De La Torre , and several others . It was entertaining , great actors and a super soundtrack composed by recently deceased Bernando Bonezzi . Bonezzi composes an excellent score in Hitchcock/Bernard Herrmann style . Furthermore , a colorful and evocative cinematography by Juan Amoros . Rating : Better than average Spanish thriller , you will be glad to saw it . The picture will appeal to Javier Bardem/Victoria Abril fans . The movie won several Prizes and Nominations such as : Berlin International Film Festival 1999 Nominated Golden Berlin Bear Manuel Gómez Pereira ; Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival 1999 : Won Citizen's Choice Award Manuel Gómez Pereira and Turia Awards : Won Turia Award , Best Actor Carmelo Gómez .The motion picture was well written and directed by Manuel Gomez Pereira . He usually writes his films and occasionally for other directors as "What Makes Women Laugh?" by Joaquin Oristell who in "Love Can Seriously Damage Your Health" is screenwriter and producer ; both of them are ordinary collaborators . Pereira is an expert on comedies as ¨¨Rose sauce¨, Why do they call it love when they mean sex ?¨, ¨Mouth to mouth¨ , "All Men Are the Same" , though he also has made some drama as ¨The hanged man¨ and this ¨Between your legs¨ . His latest projects, however, tanked as "Off Key" starred by an American-all star cast but was a failure both economically and artistically or simply didn't deliver as "Atrévete y Verás" . Nowadays , he directs TV chapters as ¨Gran Reserva¨ and ¨Cheers¨ series .

Where to begin! I admit that I had to watch this movie several time in order catch all of its details and subtle nuances. The title goes to the motivation of the characters. Something that I heard in college, that "biology is fate," also refers to the title. Something the taxi taxi driver says at the beginning to Javier, implies as much. The movies' characters, major and minor, all have one crisis or another to confront. How they handle their particular situation, highlights their character. Some run from them, others confront them. Each has his or her own style. So much for the plot. The photography was great, the acting was very good, the dialogue was exceptional. The ending, and the scenes leading up to it, were just fine. The writers clearly had a point of view, and say it loud and clear. This movie is highly entertaining, and thought-provocative. I would not be surprised if Hollywood re-made this movie.

"Hommage to Hitchcock"? Are you sure people? Hitchcock has been one of the greatest film directors ever, and his movies are still evocative and compelling today. This is something that we cannot say about "Entre las piernas", for mainly two reasons:1)It completely lacks in imagination. The plot is very predictable at each step, except the last scenes, when we discover the identity of the killer. Overall, we are never thrilled by the story. 2)The main characters are flat, not to speak about the secondary ones... The story starts in the psychotherapy room, but it fails in really explaining the "why" of their illness, which could have been very interesting. The secondary characters are simply ridiculous.Overall, I was very bored by the movie even if the content was meant to be pruriginous. The only notable thing is the skill of V. Abril and C.Gomez as well. You can simply avoid to see this movie, move to something better!

Entre las piernas is not a bad attempt at creating a Hitchcock like mystery. The plus for this movie is definitely the charm of Victoria Abril. Not a bad sort for a 40 year old, aye? Abril plays Miranda who signs up for therapy in a Sex Addict Anonymous meeting. Another in therapy is a scriptwriter called Javier whose phone sex confessions were secretly taped and distributed to the depraved and perverted in Madrid. You may ask what would happen if you place sex-addicts in the same room. The result is a rapid sexual encounter for Miranda and Javier. Miranda's husband/cop, Felix eventually catches onto the illicit affair. The disturbing part is the "distasteful" rape scene towards the end. What would you do if you were Javier? I call it self-defence. The main question is, were you not Spotting Adam from the very beginning???THE CLUE: Whenever you sense something is not quite right, always look for the Adam's Apple. Do you? I do!