Only Human

REVIEW
The young comic actor Guillermo Toledo may be the Ben Stiller of Spain, and his latest comedic tour-de-force, Only Human, could be taken as Toledo’s riotous version of Meet the Fockers, Madrid-style. This is a sinfully entertaining family comedy, but also one guided by very real situations, and accompanied by an important (though lightheartedly articulated) message about love’s ability to test ethnic boundaries. Teresa Peligri and Dominic Harari, who also co-wrote the script, direct a game cast with note-perfect sitcom precision, as young Leni (Marian Aguilera), a Spanish woman of Jewish faith, takes her Palestinian fiancé, Rafi (played by Toledo), home to meet her family (which includes the incomparable Norma Aleandro as Leni's mother). While Rafi entertains Leni's little niece, an errant container of frozen soup somehow falls out of a window, killing a passerby who could be Leni's father. Rafi's Palestinian background doesn't exactly help matters, and soon – right on cue – things quickly begin to spin out of control. Add in Leni's belly-dancing sister and her ultra-Orthodox brother (who is possibly faking his religiosity), among other eccentric characters, and you have the makings of a classic rapid-fire farce. Who needs the Fockers when Only Human has heart, brains and more than its share of great laughs? (Spanish with English subtitles)