Just perfect...

Good start, but then it gets ruined

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

A fun yet seedy, colorful yet dark, over the top yet on some level touching romantic comedy by Bigas Luna, of whom I have only yet seen the fantastically depraved titles 'Caniche' and 'Bilbao'. And, even if this one is not as great, it is certainly good enough. Penélope Cruz alone made sure of that.The (soap opera like) story goes well into overdrive as it nears the end. Fortunately, Luna keeps the humour, the cinematic side of things and the stinging social satirical comments fully intact. Although, that final scene... it's wáy out there, I'll give it that!A good 7 out of 10.

This movie is truly a classic display of what Spanish Cinema looks like. It almost seems like an Almodovar piece with it's overtly sexual tones and quirky sense of humor. Penelope Cruz portrayal of the shop worker in this is superb and all the character, though played by actors most have never heard of, are played exquisitely. Although this movie is not one I would consider watching with children it is a fantastic movie for those of us who enjoy an amusing slightly sexual foreign comedy. This movie was critically acclaimed for the way it looked at machismo in Spanish culture. It also contains extremely amusing parts about eating garlic and ham. An excellent movie if you are a fan of Almodovar. Viva Pedro!

The only reason I am giving this movie a three is because there are a few funny scenes in what is mostly a very poor film. You might object to the somewhat boring relentlessly and unthoughtfully stereotypical treatment of Spanish love relations, or to what is, in my experience, the most facile use of symbolism (bull=phallic=machoman) in film (which is saying quite a bit since, sorry, but film is still, as Werner Herzog remarked, "The illiterate genre"). The comic potential of the movie---for it does start out with a few possibilities---is wasted on a botched attempt at drama, which, oddly enough, is so bad that it is risible. Again and again I am surprised how film-makers can put together such complete rubbish---and with impunity. A waste of celluloid and time.

I'm not sure what to think about this movie. It was quite confusing at times. I'm not sure why the trucks kept being shown passing by. Was it to make the movie longer? Or was it transition between scenes? One thing good about this movie, was the good looking people. Penelope Cruz looked pretty because she was very natural looking, a bit whore-like, but she didn't look fake. Of all the foreign movies I've seen, all of the other actors were new to me. (spoilers?) When I rented this movie, I expected something a little more than what was shown. The ending really blew me off. The characters were just shown crying, then the movie ended. There was no "real" ending. I wanted to know what had happened to the rest of the characters. Another thing that confused me was the "bullfighting" scene. What was really the point of the nudity? And the fighting with the hams. That part was actually kind of funny though. I would recommend this movie to anyone who would like to see it, but just keep in mind that it is not that big of a deal