American films have definitely influenced European Filmmakers and "Mouth to Mouth" seems to be an homage to films like "Get Shorty" and to anything that DePalma or Hitchcock directed. This story has an aspiring actor named Victor Ventura (Javier Bardem) who dreams of being in American films and in an act of desperation to pay his bills he takes a job as a phone sex operator. One of his regular callers is a man named Bill (Jose-Maria Flotats) who is a closet homosexual and married. One night Victor decides to meet one of his female callers named Amanda (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) and has a night of passion. As it turns out Amanda says she is married to Bill but Victor thinks he loves her! She asks him to help set up Bill for their divorce and he agrees. When Victor and Bill are alone a hitman tries to kill them and it turns out that Amanda is not married to Bill. Both had been set up. The rest of the film has the whole bunch of them trying to figure out who is behind all of this and the film becomes a real comedy. The plot and situations are familiar and all the actors are engaging enough especially Bardem who shows real comedic ability but I found the whole story a little familiar.
*****SPOILER ALERT***** Another part of the film that I think does not work is the forced romance between Victor and Amanda. Even after Amanda has been found out as a fraud and works in a sleazy club, Victor still has some affection for her. This part of the story rings false, I think it hurts the film and Victor is just to intelligent for such an obvious and contrived plot device. I understand that a lot of what happens in the film is suppose to be tongue in cheek and to imitate and poke fun at some of the American films that it spoofs and thats fine. But I think for American audiences we're just a step or two ahead of the joke.
*****SPOILER ALERT***** Another part of the film that I think does not work is the forced romance between Victor and Amanda. Even after Amanda has been found out as a fraud and works in a sleazy club, Victor still has some affection for her. This part of the story rings false, I think it hurts the film and Victor is just to intelligent for such an obvious and contrived plot device. I understand that a lot of what happens in the film is suppose to be tongue in cheek and to imitate and poke fun at some of the American films that it spoofs and thats fine. But I think for American audiences we're just a step or two ahead of the joke.