Plot
The movie opens with an animated telling of Tomás Fuentes' (Eduardo Verástegui) life, in which he is always surrounded by women. In his current life, he is a representative for the Olivero & Sanchez Marketing Group in Los Angeles and is busy travelling to visit all three of his girlfriends to give them each a gift. Cici (Sofía Vergara), a cocktail waitress from Miami, Patricia Sofia Ordonez Coronado del Pescador (Jaci Velasquez), a debutante of New York's high society and Lorena Morales (Roselyn Sanchez), a lawyer from Chicago, have fallen for him and given him the affectionate nickname "Papi".
Cici enjoys being the center of attention and wants to be "a real dancer." She's very jealous and has even threatened Tomas with a visit by a demon called "La Llorona" who is a spirit in Latin mythology who haunts naughty children. Lorena is a workaholic fighting for "the people who have no voice." She enjoys how Tomas' ability to whisper sweet nothings in her ear makes her feel sexy, even if she doesn't even know she is. Patricia is growing tired of her mother's (Maria Conchita Alonso) continuous attempts to marry her off. Tomás gives her hope of escaping her boring life and offers her the excitement she craves. She continues seeing Tomás against her mother's wishes and will run away if she has to. Each one believes she is the only woman in Fuentes' life.
Upon returning to Los Angeles, Tomas gives a presentation of a new perfume, Memento, to potential investors. He hallucinates visions of his three girlfriends and the screams of "La Llorona" and passes out. His doctor learns of the love triangle, advises Tomás to choose only one woman, prescribes tranquilizers and advises against driving, alcohol and women.
By strange coincidence, all three of his girlfriends go to Los Angeles after hearing their horoscopes read by Walter Mercado, Univision's Primer Impacto fortune teller. Unfortunately, they arrive before he gets home from the doctor's and only end up surprising each other. It is revealed that Tomás gave them all the same gift: red lingerie. Instead of fighting each other, all three agree to leave and quit Tomas cold turkey in return for his cheating on them. In their absence, Tomás arrives home and takes his tranquilizers with alcohol. The girls each have second thoughts about leaving and return to confront Tomás directly. First Lorena, then Patricia and finally Cici, causing Tomás to overdose on alcohol and tranquilizers and pass out again.
Mary (Joy Enriquez), Tomás' secretary, calls hoping he is doing better. Outside Tomas' house, FBI agent Carmen Rivera (Lisa Vidal), is waiting. She followed Cici to Los Angeles as part of an investigation. Fala, Cici's business partner, had Cici do her boyfriend, Ricky, a favor by taking a car that he sold online to the buyer in Los Angeles. Ricky is involved in the Whittaker counterfeit ring Agent Rivera is investigating. The girls spot her while panicking about what to do with Tomas and think she is "the L.A. woman" who just called, probably from a cell phone.
Scared by Agent Rivera's firearm, the girls decide to take Tomás out of the house and wait until he wakes up and decide which girls he wants to be with. They load all their bags in Ricky's car, not realizing that there's one more in the trunk. A short chase ensues but, with Cici driving, they manage to lose the "hoochie mama." Realizing they're going to need a place to stay, Patricia insists on a Marriott hotel over Cici's suggestion of a Motel 6. Cici convinces a bellhop to load the unconscious Tomás in a luggage cart with their bags while Patricia gets them a room. Unfortunately, Patricia's credit cards have been canceled by her mother. However, Lorena is their saving grace. The Miss Latina American Beauty Pageant is being held in that very same hotel and Miss Puerto Rico's flight was delayed. Lorena bears a resemblance to the real beauty contestant and takes her place. Cici passes herself off as Lorena's manager and Patricia as the maid. When moving their bags to Miss Puerto Rico's room, the extra bag from the trunk falls off the cart onto the luggage room floor.
In the hotel room, all three girls have dinner, empty three bottles of champagne and share their life stories with each other. They each then have a dream in which they end up with Tomás. However, in all three girls' dreams, they each feel bad in leaving the other two behind.
The next morning, Lorena has to meet the judges. However, it's also time for Cici to deliver Ricky's car to a man named Rodrigo (D.L. Hughley) who apparently bought it. Threatening to reveal the truth about Lorena's identity, Cici gets the girls come to an agreement. They leave Tomás but, in their absence, he's taken by Agent Rivera who has followed them to the hotel and used her credentials to get into the room. Upon returning to hotel in Ricky's car with Rodrigo's associate, Victor (Freddy Rodriguez) who is in pain from a root canal, the girls discover Tomás is missing and a note that reads, "If you want your Papi back, bring the money to the Don Quixote puppet at L.A. Latin festival at 5 PM. No cops."
Patricia knocks Victor out with a lamp and Cici calls Fala in Miami for answers about the car but doesn't get any. All that is left is to follow the instructions in the note but they are stopped once again, this time by Costas Delgado (Paul Rodriguez, uncredited), the director of the pageant, who has been looking for Lorena and needs her to meet with the judges immediately. Patricia finds the extra bag filled with money in the luggage room and Cici gets a map to the festival. Victor comes to, calls Rodrigo and they plan to catch the girls at the festival.
At the beauty pageant, the contestants are being interviewed by judges. While Miss Mexico is being interviewed, Lorena unbuttons her blouse slightly to show off her cleavage and Costas helps her with her sash. During Lorena's interview, Patricia and Cici arrive and take their place in the audience. Lorena's political side shows as she proposes entrance exams for all contestants and speaks of the goals of Latina beauty pageants. All is unfortunately for naught as the real Miss Puerto Rico (Nicole Scherzinger) storms in and outs Lorena as an impostor. Cici trips her, allowing all three to escape. Outside, Tomás wakes up in Agent Rivera's car. It appears that Agent Rivera has left the note. She intends to use Tomás and his three girlfriends in order to detain Victor and Rodrigo and follows the girls to the festival as they leave in Ricky's car. On the way, Tomás opens up to Agent Rivera and even hits on her but she doesn't bite.
Tomás is reunited with all three of his girlfriends. He apologizes to them for his deception and is unable to choose between them. The girls, however, have all found their inner strengths through their adventure and choose to leave Tomás instead. Tomás decides to take Agent Carmen's advice and spend some time alone. But first, he invites Carmen out for dinner. Returning to the festival crowds, the girls are invited to return to the stage where they dance to Christina Vidal's song It's All About Nothing.
The movie's timeline advances five months later and the girls have kept in touch. Patricia has moved into her own apartment with her dog Fifi and has gotten a job at an art gallery. Cici is an entertainer on a cruise liner with her business partner Fala. Lorena is still a lawyer working pro-bono but puts her time off to good use and becomes the self-proclaimed "Queen of Tango". Fifi hears her horoscope that advises her to "go outside the door because love is waiting for [her]." The movie ends with Fifi finding her "Puppy Chulo."
Cast
Roselyn Sanchez as Lorena
Sofía Vergara as Cici
Jaci Velasquez as Patricia
Eduardo Verástegui as Tomás "Papi" Fuentes
Lisa Vidal as Carmen
Freddy Rodríguez as Victor
D.L. Hughley as Rodrigo
Maria Conchita Alonso as Maria
Walter Mercado as Himself
Carlos Ponce as Himself
Joy Enriquez as Mary
Ian Gomez as Doctor Chu
Diana-Maria Riva as Fala (as Diana Maria Riva)
Ivette Sosa as Gloria
Barbara Bermudo as Miami TV Reporter
Cameos and appearances
The movie features several cameo appearances, including singer Carlos Ponce and Primer Impacto news reporter Barbara Bermudo.
Other entertainers who act in the film include ex-Eden's Crush members Nicole Scherzinger and Ivette Sosa, and Maria Conchita Alonso.
Critical reception
Critics gave generally negative reviews of Chasing Papi. It received an overall low rating of 33% from Metacritic. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a rating of only 13% based on 47 reviews. The film failed to appeal to a mainstream audience beyond its target Latino demographic.
Elizabeth Weitzman from the New York Daily News wrote "The credits on this film are genuinely impressive: Each of the talented actresses is already a popular Latina star, and the film was produced by Forest Whitaker, who directed Waiting to Exhale. No doubt he expected it to speak to an underrecognized audience in the way that one did. Instead, it just speaks down to them and the rest of us."
No comments:
Post a Comment