Spain/2002
Director: Emilio Martinez Lazaro
Score: **

The Other Side of the Bed is the kind of bedroom farce that the hot-blooded Spanish claim they are good at making.  Nominated for multiple Goyas (the Spanish equivalent of the Academy Awards), the film was also a box-office hit in 2002 but took its time in reaching North American theatres.

The film centers on the love affairs of two couples.  At the start, couple Javier (Ernesto Alterio) and girlfriend Sonia (Raz Vega) comfort their distraught friend Pedro (Guillermo Toeldo) that his girlfriend Paula’s (Natalia Verbeke) leaving him is just a phase.  Paula has fallen in love with someone else.  It does not take long for the viewer to guess that the secret lover is none other than Javier himself nor predict that Sonia will eventually fall for Pedro.  Supporting characters are thrown in for good measure, like a skirt-chasing Rafa (Alberto San Juan) and the bumbling private-eye (Ramon Barea) Pedro hires to find Paula’s lover.

All these antics should provide ample opportunity for comedic high jinks but the humour is slight if funny at all.  The film’s best scene – the tennis match in which both Javier and Pedro are paired up, after they discover that each has slept with the other’s girl is less hilarious than expected.  Lazaro’s decision to add song-and-dance numbers in between segments do not work that well either, especially for non-Spanish viewers unfamiliar with the local pop songs.  The central character Javier, which turns out to be more irritating than amusing because of his attitude and the smugness of his sleeping around, does not help in making the film more likeable either.  The supporting cast fare better, especially San Juan as Rafa who talks more than he can handle.  His spill on why he gets the uglier girls is particularly amusing.

Probably the only reason the film got a release (none of the other Lazaros’ films have) is the fact that it garnered various awards.  The film was originally slotted to open on St. Valentine’s weekend, but is delayed two weeks, if not already for an entire year. Obviously, the distributors do not have high hopes for this comedy.

Review by Gilbert Seah.