American Visa

"Mario" (Demián Bechir) is an unassuming Bolivian academic who wants to go and visit his daughter in the U S of A. He duly fills out the paperwork and shows up at the embassy only to be told that he and uncle Sam aren't best pals. Indeed, just about anyone and that guy aren't getting along because he assumes that everyone is so desperate to leave their own homeland that they'd get off the plane and head straight to Hell's Kitchen to wash some plates for the rest of their lives. Disgruntled, he decides that he will not be thwarted and so with the help of his part-time prostitute gal "Blanca" (Kate del Castillo) he vows to raise the $5000 he will need to get an helpful chap to sort one out for him under the table. How is he going to raise that kind of cash, though? What now ensues would almost be worthy of an "Hulot" film as this increasingly out of his depth professor finds himself embroiled in a robbery (of his own devising) - and that's just the start of the messes he and "Blanca" have to sort out - and she's not even invited to go with him! The set-piece comedic elements of this didn't work so well for me; they were all pretty contrived and just a little over-egged, but the engaging efforts from Bechir and del Castillo do grow on you after a while and with some lovely photography of their city and their country, it did make me wonder if perhaps there might be a few Americans queuing up in their embassy in Washington D.C. asking if they could come "visit" la Paz - the world highest capital city - instead. The pace is erratic and on balance this probably misses more than it hits, but there's plenty of charisma on display here and if you're just looking for a soapy drama with sex, drugs and fake passports then this ought to do the trick.