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Julio (Amores Perros' Gael García Bernal) and Tenoch (Diego Luna) are a pair of underachieving, oversexed teens with a hard-on for Luisa (MaribelVerdú), wife of Tenoch's cousin. In an attempt to chat her up, they tell her they're planning a road trip to a fictional beach, never expecting she'll agree to join them. Surprisingly, she accepts the offer. The proverbial journey of discovery follows.
Mexican writer-director Alfonso Cuarón (who helmed Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow in 1998's Great Expectations) here offers up a smart, spicy road-tripper that presents a wonderful snapshot of his home country. Sure, it starts like an American teen flick, but it soon introduces more complex, adult undercurrents as we slowly discover Luisa's real reasons for joining the horny boys. And though it stumbles towards the end, as Julio and Tenoch's juvenility becomes a little tiring, Cuarón should be applauded for blending light comedy and dark drama so smoothly.
