Review: El Superstar: The Unlikely Rise Of Juan Frances (2011)
Mark R. Leeper
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: This is a pseudo-documentary about the minuscule
rise and subsequent fall of a Scots-English man who was
raised Mexican and who despite his non-Mexican look and
lack of talent is determined to be a Ranchera singer.
The film is trying to say something about assimilation
and cultural identity, but there are better and clearer
films on the subject out there. Some of the humor is
amusing and some just falls flat. The highpoint of the
film is the performance of the two familiar actors, Lupe
Ontiveros and Danny Trejo. Amy French and Spencer John
French act and star in the film with Amy also directing.
Rating: 0 (-4 to +4) or 4/10
The success of THIS IS SPINAL TAP paved the way for a whole genre
of satirical pseudo-documentaries. By now a market has been
saturated. A new mockumentary has to offer a fairly sharp wit or
it could go ignored. Christopher Guest seems to have the knack;
the Frenches need practice. Ranchera is a style of music from
Mexico that is generally done with one singer and one guitar. And
the singer generally looks Mexican. As the film opens we see Juan
Frances has arrived for a gig, but people do not believe he is a
ranchera singer because he looks even more gringo than most
gringos. He is pudgy, rose-complected, and balding. This is Juan
Frances, born Jonathan French (played by Spencer John French). He
is of English-Scots heritage, but his parents died when he was
three months old and he was adopted by his Chicano nanny, Nena
(Lupe Ontiveros from EL NORTE and REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES) and
E. J. (Danny Trejo of MACHETE). Both of these performances are
real assets to the film, by the way. Trejo is one of these actors
like The Rock who comes from a very different background but who
looks really good on camera from the very first frame. Trejo and
Ontiveros go together on the screen like Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.
But I digress.
As a boy Juan Frances saw a vision of the Virgin of Guadaloupe and
came away convinced that he had to be a singer. He writes and
sings his own songs and nobody seems to notice he is terrible at
both. Now he is 33, the same age that Jesus was when he was
crucified. In what he calls his "Jesus Year" Juan is going to try
to become a great ranchera star. Though he looks and dresses like
a gas station attendant, he intends to become a glamorous
attraction. Ready to use him are a manager and a sexy stage
partner (David Franco and Maria Esquivel). Juan has surprises
ahead, but none that are worth the wait.
EL SUPERSTAR has not much of interest happening in the minimal
plot. It is more a character piece and seems to be groping toward
some message having to do with people pretending to be what they
are not. Along the way it pokes what is intended to be fun at both
the Chicano culture and the white culture. Having funny enough
gags would make or break this film and sadly they do more of the
latter. Only about one gag in ten is really amusing. When they
start naming the organizations that arise in the plot with acronyms
like P.U.P.U., P.U.B.E.S., and C.A.C.A., it signals a sort of
desperation in the writing. Remarkably, one of the film's
executive producers is Norman Lear who should know how to make
ethnicity and culture based humor work.
While there are sequences that are amusing, the script does not
seem to have been ready for the camera. Norman Lear should have
been able to introduce the Frenches to someone who could have
gotten more humor out of the premise. I rate this film a 0 on the
-4 to +4 scale or 4/10. It will be released direct to DVD on
January 18, 2011.
Film Credits: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0855846>
What others are saying:
<http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/el_superstar/>
Mark R. Leeper
mle...@optonline.net
Copyright 2011 Mark R. Leeper