PROMEDIO ROJO
D: Nicolás López; with Ariel Levy, Xenia Tostado, Benajmín Acuña, Nicolás Martínez
Narrative Feature Spotlight
We could call this suburban teen sex farce “Chilean Pie” – the first jizz joke hits within five minutes – but it bears a closer resemblance to 1982’s The Last American Virgin, right down to the subnormal fat-guy friend (Sebastián “Berta” Mu–iz in the role originated by portly schlemiel Joe Rubbo), pregnancy subplot, and puke-soaked party confessions. If nothing else, Promedio Rojo (loosely translated as “failing grade”) is proof that Latin American cinema can be just as lowbrow as any youth-oriented Hollywood extrusion. Those who like a clockwork schedule of maricon jokes and gags about inducing abortion with celery may be pleased to see the seeds of the high school sex romp shifting southward. The comic-book motif is cute (and technically accomplished) at first, but wears thin eventually, and the characterizations are dreadfully distateful: Everyone in this movie (save Tostado, as the hero’s inaccesible dream girl) deserves a swirly.This article appears in March 18 • 2005.