During the 1980s, uptight Ted Boynton is a salesman working in the Barcelona office of a Chicago-based company. He receives an unexpected visit from his cousin Fred, a naval officer who has come to Spain on a public relations mission for a U.S. fleet. Not exactly friends in the past, Ted and Fred strike up relationships with women in the Spanish city and experience conflicts -- Ted with his employer, and Fred with the Barcelona community.
An exquisitely composed yet fiercely combative satire (set in the eighties) of European mores as seen through the eyes of two young exemplars of the American establishment.
– Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
2 Apr 2012
fresh:
This is fairly amusing stuff-brittle, fresh, and impudent - if you can stomach all the upscale arrogance.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
23 Mar 2010
fresh:
Slyly hilarious, esthetically sound and spiritually restorative.
– Rick Groen,
Globe and Mail,
12 Apr 2002
fresh:
A remarkable find: The film doesn't stop at getting your attention, it rewards it.
– Peter Travers,
Rolling Stone,
12 May 2001
fresh:
It appears at first to be about the casual lives of young men trying to launch their careers, but eventually ... it reveals darker depths and meanings.