Jose Luis is an executive at his parents underwear factory where his girlfriend Sylvia works on the shop floor. When Sylvia becomes pregnant, Jose Luis promises her that he will marry her, most likely against the wishes of his parents. Jose Luis' mother is determined to break her son's engagement to a girl from a lower-class family, and hires Raul, a potential underwear model and would-be bullfighter to seduce Sylvia.
A coarse muddle of melodrama, romance and cautionary tale, the film is chiefly a tribute to throbbing Latin manhood, as cretinous and sophomoric as it is pretentiously surreal.
– Rita Kempley,
Washington Post,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
A movie that combines lurid melodrama with vast improbabilities, sexy soap opera with heartfelt romance, and cheerful satire with heedless raunch.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
Although possessing a biting wit and excellent sense of the offbeat, too much of Jamon, Jamon follows obvious paths.
– James Berardinelli,
ReelViews,
1 Jan 2000
rotten:
"Jamon Jamon" is not quite pop art, and it's not surprising or witty enough to work as satire. It's on a wavelength not easy to tune in.
– Vincent Canby,
New York Times,
30 Aug 2004
fresh:
The sex scenes are so bizarre as to be parodic and it all looks terribly ugly. But wonderful vignettes of rural life, and a terrific performance from Pablito the piglet. Ham indeed.