My Big Night

A frantic comedy with an ensemble cast and a late in coming payoff, Spain's My Big Night is a glossy but somewhat tedious tale, as countless agendas and plots clash during the endless taping of a televised New Year's Eve celebration. The wild action starts when a camera crane in a TV studio crashes down on the head of an extra seated at a table among other formally-dressed actors. Tragic? Yes, but to the variety show's producers that death is just another blip in an aggravating production. More madness follows: the program's hosts are at each other's throats; aging superstar crooner Alphonso (Raphael) is threatened by the presence of hunky younger singer Adán (Mario Casas) and is also the unknowing target of an assassination plot; the dead extra's replacement, a rotund man falling for the crazy actress beside him, is also being humiliated by his mother; protestors outside have tipped over the mobile editing room; and so on. Director Álex de la Iglesia keeps all of these balls in the air with a sustained comic pitch, but the pace and energy are wearing until the big laughs arrive at the end. Optional. (T. Keogh)