Salma Hayek in Living It Up (2000)

Clips

Pics

Review

Tuna's comments:

La Gran Vida (2000) is a marvelous Spanish comedy staring Salma Hayek. It is currently sitting at 8.4/10 at IMDB, but with only 35 votes. Carmelo Gómez is a Madrid city bus driver, and decides to end it all, as he feels like he is in a dead end existence with no money and no friends.

His first plan, turning on the gas, fails because his gas has been turned off due to non-payment. Walking through the middle of traffic gets him no closer. He is about to jump off a bridge when a man makes him an interesting offer. He is to borrow $100 million from the Mafia for a week at 50% interest, live the high life for a week, then the Mafia will kill him when he can't pay.

One of his first acts is to throw a huge party, where waitress Salma Hayek catches his eye. Saying more would be a spoiler, and I saw every plot twist coming ahead of time anyway, but nothing is exactly what it first seems. There are topless strippers in an early scene (candidates for best anonymous nudity of the year), and Salma shows breasts in a dark love scene. She also is seen in lingerie in several scenes.

I adored this film. The set-up was fresh, and Salma was majorly cute. The DVD is an excellent transfer, and you have your choice of very good dubbed dialogue or subtitles. Art direction and camera work were very nice as well. Even if you are not fond of romantic comedies or foreign films, you might well like this one. B-.

Scoopy's comments:

La Gran Vida (2000), aka Living It Up, is a marvelous Spanish comedy staring Salma Hayek. Carmelo Gómez plays a Madrid city bus driver, and decides to end it all, since he feels like he is in a dead end existence with no money and no friends.

His first plan, turning on the gas, fails because his gas has been turned off due to non-payment. Walking through the middle of traffic gets him no closer. He is about to jump off a bridge when a man makes him an interesting offer. He is to borrow a million bucks from the Mafia for a week at 50% interest, live the high life for a week, then be killed by the Mafia when he can't pay.

One of his first acts is to throw a huge party, where waitress, Salma Hayek, catches his eye. Saying more would be a spoiler, and I saw every plot twist coming ahead of time anyway, but nothing is exactly what it first seems.

I adored this film. The set-up was fresh, and Salma was majorly cute. The DVD is an excellent transfer, and you have your choice of very good dubbed dialogue or subtitles. Art direction and camera work were very nice as well. Even if you are not fond of romantic comedies or foreign films, you might well like this one.

Nudity Report: There are topless strippers in an early scene (candidates for best anonymous nudity of the year), and Salma shows breasts in a dark love scene. She also is seen in lingerie in several scenes.

IMDb Summary: Voters score it 8.4, but based on only 35 votes.

Critics Vote: No major reviews online.

DVD Info: Widescreen anamorphic, 2.35:1; making-of featurette.


Written by Tuna & Scoopy ...courtesy of scoopy.net