The Other Side of the Bed (2002)

I liked the WEST SIDE STORY/Umbrellas of Cherbourg combination

--- the characters exude understated loneliness and passion/longing in their (usually) solitary musings/hallucinations like the doomed lovers in the French film; while the superbly choreographed dances are lively, flamboyant and outrageous, as in the Robert Wise musical classic.

The picture's quality is so sleek, glossy and crisp- just like the sharply polished characters with their cool jobs and lifestyles. Although they tend to be alienating --- so "Melrose Place", they belong to a TV show rather than a movie, they're just too devastatingly gorgeous, hip and lucky--- some characters have the odd, downright pathetic (though emotionally lightweight) predicament that make us somehow care about them (and of course, envy them).

What further heightens my TV soap-opera comparison is the characters being trapped in the little world they created themselves, which, although very exciting, is also very stressful and complicated. Hence, the songs are mostly performed in small, enclosed places and in medium shots and close-ups, unlike in the grand, majestic West Side Story and Umbrellas of Cherbourg musicals.

The highstrung dramatic moments are kept in check by the funny, ironic twists and the characters' amusing weaknesses, and why is it that the men are such cads and a-holes and cute lovable hunks at the same time?

Despite the preoccupation with very personal "issues", the film manages to get some social commentary in. Though the guys in testosterone overdrive just wanna have fun, they acknowledge the warrior-like quality of women and the fact that it is they who control the sexual relationship. Likewise, the characters take "marriage" humorously and lightly- in fact, even mock it with a naughty grin.

Not a particularly illuminating and substantial film, but its bombastic, wacky dances, sexy anatomies galore and sizzling, riotous swinging-sex-partner-swapping action guarantee that you're in for an enjoyable rockin' and bed-rollin...

Best seen "on the other side of the bed" with your partnerÂ…

Fmovies: Lightheaded romantic comedy about two couples who changes partners and find their own way to happiness and understanding. The movie has the charm, witty and vitality of Latin movies (especially movies produced in Argentina and Spanish) but is far from be a great achievement on the genre or even a memorable piece of work. Mixture of love story, comedy and musical, 'Otro lado de la cama,El' give us a good work from the director, some ingenious scenes (like the scene in the theather, where Pedro(played by Guillermo Del Toro)appear as the 'Melon Kid') and a sympathetic cast, where you cand find the beauty of Paz Vega and Natalia Verbecke. In fact, the movie is a good amusement but don't expect to find the same intensity and impressive ideas thay you can fin in movies directed by Almodovar (at least, some of them) or Alejandro Almenábar.

I give this a 6 (six).

When Paula (Natalia Verbeke) leaves her mate Pedro (Guillermo Toledo), he misses her and looks for comfort with his best friends, Javier (Ernesto Alterio) and Sonia (Paz Vega). Paula is having an affair with Javier. The cuckold Pedro tries to find who is the secret lover of Paula, and hires a private eye. Meanwhile, while comforting Pedro, Sonia has one night stand with him and Javier thinks she is cheating him with her lesbian friend Lucia (Nathalie Poza).

"El Otro Lado de la Cama" is a sexy, delightful and witty comedy about betrayal and infidelity. The performances are very natural, the women are very sexy and gorgeous and in the end it is very pleasant entertainment. Paz Vega and Natalia Verbeke are really delicious and a collyrium for the men's eyes with their perfect bodies and breasts and beautiful faces. The conspiracy theories of the private eye Sagaz (obs: his name is also a joke: it means sagacious, smart in Spanish)(Ramón Barea) about John Kennedy, Marylin Monroe and Elvis Presley are hilarious. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Outro Lado da Cama" ("The Other Side of the Bed")

The Other Side of the Bed fmovies. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BED is a musical / comedy about two couples. This is the end with any similarity on any American movie in several years.

Here the romance is not the main point. The sex is. The story is simple. Two couples (Javier / Sonia and Paula / Rafa), very good old friends. One day, Paula end his relation with Rafa for another mystery man (who is not other than Javier). They have a friendly break up, but Rafa obsessed tries to find out who is the other guy asking Javier for help. Javier, is not sure about leaving Sonia creating a crisis on his new relation with Paula, plus the problems trying to hide everything to his best friend.

On the other side, as Rafa gets more depressed Sonia gets hook on his tenderness and a few days later they are having an affair. Of course, Javier notices something happens to Sonia and goes to his friend for help. Add to the mess: another couple in a similar situation, a lesbian, a detective, a non stop talking friend plus some songs and dancing.

You can realise that the thing is not a tragedy even if it looks like that. And this is the best thing. Not only there is a lot of humor, but the end is not moralizing or sad; is just what EVERYBODY deep inside wished.

The acting ranges from excellent (almost all men) to very good (Vega, Verbeke and Esteve). Men characters are better developed than women´s, but (I believe) is because men´s reactions on this type of situations are funnier.

As I stated before, this movie is not about romance, is about how little things destroy a couple even when love still exist. And sometimes, the only solution is to clear our moral limitations and look for new things and experiences. That does not mean an orgy or an bizarre sexual experience, but just starting again in a different way.

I am a Christian, and according to my education, everything here is sin. But according to the Bible, who makes de mistake and repents (then learning from them) is the one to be saved.

My hopes are a commercial release for this movie and that the MPAA does not declare this movie NC-17 only because of the subject resolution. The nudity sex scenes are very light.

First of all, I love musicals, but I like to know beforehand that that's what I'm getting myself into. Ummm... we were enjoying this one as a fun romantic comedy when all of a sudden the male lead breaks out into song and a bunch of dancers appear out of no where!?! Not that it's bad, it's just that, well, NOTHING was mentioned about it on the packaging [again,do the people who write the blurbs actually watch the movies??]... The songs are in keeping with the overall tone of the film, and the dancing quite funny [hopefully intentionally so], but it's just that when you're not expecting them it can be one of those "Oh...my... we've rented a musical!?!?" It's a fun and funny movie, just be warned.

[The cast isn't known in the U.S.-check the IMDb home page for this film for the full listing.]

Spanish director Emilio Martinez-Lazaro isn't as well known as his contemporary, much studied and highly regarded Pedro Almodovar. If "The Other Side of the Bed" represents his best work, I hope he and his films become more familiar to U.S. audiences soon.

Sparklingly clever and funny, this is a relationships comedy in an almost opera bouffe style with a measured dose of slapstick. Music - songs with funny lyrics (you have to follow the subtitles carefully)- and sprightly choreography more than highlight the story. Martinez-Lazaro creatively uses song and dance to bridge narrative portions, summarize a fast shifting plot-line and bring the viewer along in what otherwise would, however good the acting, be a fairly conventional and oft-told story of couples checking out their best friends in the sack.

And that story is:

Javier deeply loves the beautiful Sylvia and they have an uninhibited sex life. Paula dumps her adoring boyfriend,Pedro, for another man but she won't tell him who the guy is. He's Javier and she hounds him to tell Sylvia their relationship is over. Javier can't bring himself to do that so he continues enjoying vigorous bedroom calisthenics with both his adoring Sylvia and the increasingly irritated and losing patience Paula. Pedro sobs on Sylvia's shoulder. He's obsessed with Paula and has even hired a truly wacko P.I. (the guy wrote a book claiming J.F.K. killed himself) to tail Paula. Guess where unloading his grief on sympathetic Sylvia leads.

The women and the men both have friends also dealing with relationship issues. Everyone is likable-not a bad ass character in the whole film. Two women, Jennifer and Pilar, have small but highly humorous roles that add to the central quartet's roiling, almost out-of-control issues.

"The Other Side of the Bed" seems a bit like a Spanish Woody Allen film and "Everyone Says I Love You" springs first to mind. But this isn't a derivative take on a terrific Woody flick. Martinez-Lazaro has neither patience with nor interest in Allen's quest to uncover every known neurosis (no one in this film is remotely anhedonic) nor does he look for barely concealed powerful emotions as Almodovar does. His characters want stability as a second course to lust but they're not examining their childhoods, their relationships with mom or the impact of a turbulent world on their amorous activities. These folks want pure joy and they often find and express that wonderful quality in and with each other. Sylvia, Paula, Pedro and Javier are, I suspect, iconographic representations of what many of us fantasize about in terms of our own relationship experiences (usually fruitlessly). How can any viewer not like these young, hip, affluent libido-driven bed-hoppers?

Sundance scores here by making this flick available on DVD. Be sure to keep reading subtitles carefully as the end credits role.

The cast must have had a blast making "The Other Side of the Bed." Neither side, by the way, is suitable for kids as there's a fair bit of nudity and simulated(?) sex.

9/10.