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Only Human
Magnolia Pictures


7.0

based on 21 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 3 votes
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MPAA RATING: R for some sexual content, nudity and language

Starring Norma Aleandro, Guillermo Toledo, María Botto, Marián Aguilera, Fernando Ramallo, Alba Molinero, Max Berliner, and Mario Martín

This gloriously irreverent family comedy fuses brilliant characterization and unrelenting humor to rework the age-old story of meeting the parents with a hilarious modern twist. (Magnolia Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Foreign \| Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Dominic Harari Teresa Pelegri
DIRECTED BY:	Dominic Harari Teresa Pelegri
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: October 17, 2006 Theatrical: June 16, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	93 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Spain / Argentina / Portugal / UK
LANGUAGE(S):	Spanish / Hebrew / English / Arabic (with English subtitles)

Original title "Seres Queridos"; Best Film and Best Screenplay, 2004 Monte-Carlo Comedy Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Cheery, expertly constructed Spanish farce.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

As directors, Harari and De Pelegri have just the right light-fingered glissando touch. Not a moment sags. Their cast relishes and fulfills the tempo.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Winningly human, and wonderfully funny.

Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves

The film's snappy action and frank sexuality are reminiscent of "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown," while the mordant humor and conflicting identities are vintage Allen.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

There's a manic quality to the film that may wear you down. But at least you won't be bored.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

A dinner-from-hell comedy about a pretty Jewish Spaniard who brings a nice Palestinian guy home to her outspoken Madrid family.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

There's nothing subtle about Pelegri and Harari's culture-clash romp, but it's sometimes frantically funny; that it's thoroughly forgettable is an issue only if you expect it to do more than poke easy fun at the thorny issues it raises.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Moves along briskly, with several laugh-out-loud moments.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

The slapstick gets a little too silly, and a rushed ending feels unsatisfying. But everyone whose family boasts an excess of opinions will relate.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

A movie that is never elegant but is often hysterically funny, and maintains a rabbit-on-speed pace that Hollywood comedy long ago abandoned.

Village Voice Jim Ridley

Intermittently hilarious.

The New York Times Laura Kern

A vigorously paced modern screwball comedy written and directed by the husband-and-wife team Dominic Harari and Teresa De Pelegrí, explores family values, and Leni and Rafi's mismatched cultural backgrounds, with a refreshingly light touch.

LA Weekly Jim Ridley

A Spanish dinner-theater comedy, this intermittently hilarious contraption by the husband-wife team of Dominic Harari and Teresa de Pelegri heaves Jewish-Palestinian conflict onto a prop-room table already groaning with loaded guns, impromptu sex toys, a wounded duck paddling in a bidet, and a brick of frozen soup that doubles as a sandbag for unlucky pedestrians below.

Los Angeles Times Mark Olsen

Mines the comic possibilities of the classic setup of introducing the fiancé to the family, with results that are playful, charming and surprisingly thoughtful.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Only Human, a Spanish farce, has absolutely no business being as laugh-out-loud funny as it often is.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Despite a strong start, Only Human loses its grip on all that merry energy and comes to feel more like a sitcom than like "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" or "Some Like It Hot," to name just some of its forebears.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Don't expect a meaningful resolution, just a bouncy comedy with some hilarious moments in the stray ricochets.

Miami Herald Marta Barber

Unfortunately, the film is also at times dull, though the scale definitely tilts toward enjoyment. Quality balance aside, who doesn't want to enjoy a few hearty laughs? Only Human provides a few of those.

Chicago Reader Joshua Katzman

Toledo is very funny, and there are some hilarious comic bits, but writer-directors Dominic Harari and Teresa Pelegri drag in several distracting subplots, turning this 2004 Spanish comedy into a scattershot affair.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

For a film that pads out such broad slapstick with toilet humor, obnoxious-child antics, and even cute-animal business, Only Human is surprisingly enjoyable, thanks to the filmmakers' relatively low-key, Pedro Almodóvar-style approach.

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

Attempts to achieve a Pedro Almodovar-level of humor without much success... Degenerating into witless slapstick.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

James R. gave it a9:
Amusing, sometimes silly, the movie has a sweet heart. One of the best comedies I have seen this year.

Chad S. gave it a5:
The Israeli/Palestinian couple in "Only Human" reminds me of Hannity(prom king) and Colmes(band geek). Leni(Marian Aguilera) is much better looking than her fiance, Rafi(Guillermo Toledo), which makes the film seem predisposed towards the Israelis(like how the FOX show is slanted towards the conservative side). Without meaning to, the filmmakers reveal their bias. An early scene, in which Rafi accidentally "kills" the patriarch, is going to be less funny if you think the filmmakers aren't apolitical. In a discussion about past fiances(presumably all Israelis), Tania(Maria Botto) tells Leni that she thinks Rafi is ugly. And Leni agrees. Aside from the film's political minefield, "Only Human" also suffers from editing incoherence. All of a sudden, the father is up on his feet; and we're not sure if he picked himself off from the street, or escaped from a hospital.

Mase gave it a7:
Darker spanish version of Meet the Parents. Wittier but without the bellylaughs. Only truely funny in whisps, the slapstick scenes fall shorter than it's american cousin. However there are some great characters here. I could watch actress Norma ALeandro as mama GLoria all day. She could teach STreisand a thing or two.

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Only Human Magnolia Pictures

Only Human
Magnolia Pictures