Mixing a good dose of sex, comedy, and some overused clichés Mexican wannabe-hit La Ultima Noche follows the story of an upper class family where irrationality seems to be highly tolerable. In fact, I don't quite know how else to describe Fabian (Andres Garcia), Gloria (Cecilia Gabriela), Luzma (Marian Avila), Elena (Elizabeth Valdez), and Fernando's (Ricardo Palacio) deeds other than to say that what they get involved with makes no sense whatsoever. In a matter of ninety minutes La Ultima Noche shows us that mid-age housewives would probably want to think twice before they acquire double-D breast implants, advertising penis-extension pumps at the age of forty-something is definitely not so funny to watch, and that sexual rendezvous' could often be quite disappointing. In a nutshell, aside from offering some raunchy but dull humor La Ultima Noche delivers everything else you could easily see in your typical made-for-TV soap opera.

In addition to the boring jokes and "honest exploration" of sexuality La Ultima Noche also fails to deliver what a good social drama/comedy should be able to reveal: convincing acting. The main protagonists certainly appear at ease with their characters but the lines they have been provided with are so out of touch with what the film strives to accomplish that after the initial twenty minutes of high expectations La Ultima Noche completely lost my interest. Certainly there is nothing in this self-proclaimed comedy that I have not seen before on TV, and what is even worse, I have seen it done in a more convincing fashion.

Betting on plenty of naked skin, which is not necessarily a doomed approach if you know how to master the subject, La Ultima Noche might captivate the attention of selected few hot-blooded male individuals but frankly I believe that this would be as far as this film would go. The poorly-written script, fake dialogs, and the aura of a bad soap opera would probably turn down even the few desperate Cecilia Gabriela admirers which I suppose will seek this film. Cecilia Gabriela is indeed beautiful to watch but perhaps it is a better idea that she remained into her comfort zone which logically appears to be Mexican TV productions.

The sugary sentimentality which La Ultima Noche does not seem to be able to escape quickly catches up with the only commodity the film sells well-its beautiful female cast. However, left struggling with poor jokes and lines that are often so bad they could indeed make you laugh Cecilia Gabriela and Co. are forced to improvise with a storyline which hardly has any potential, if at all. The result as you might guess is a snoozer that I am surprised has been approved to put an ending to a blockbuster pair of films hugely successful in their native Mexico. Regardless, I can hardly spot any redeeming qualities in this production and suggest that unless you appear to be a die-hard fan of Cecilia Gabriela you look elsewhere for quality Mexican cinema.

How Does the DVD Look?

Note: DVDTALK was provided only with preliminary screeners (DVD-R) for Coleccion Latina which Warner Brothers will launch in February (the two films announced so far are Hormigas en la Boca and La Ultima Noche). Therefore at this point I can not provide our readers with final comments regarding the video quality of this DVD. The screener that was sent to us was in the original aspect ratio of 1.77:1.

How Does the DVD Look?

As mentioned above I will update this review with the adequate technical specs once I receive the final disc from Warner Brothers. The screener we were sent offered the original Spanish audio track with white English subtitles.

Extras:

None at this point, will be updated once the final product arrives.

Final Words: