Back home

Official Competition

428 votes

When a billionaire entrepreneur impulsively decides to create an iconic movie, he demands the best. Renowned filmmaker Lola Cuevas is recruited to mastermind this ambitious endeavour. Completing the all-star team are two actors with massive talent but even bigger egos: Hollywood heartthrob Félix Rivero and radical theatre actor Iván Torres. Both are legends, but not exactly best friends. Through a series of increasingly eccentric trials set by Lola, Félix and Iván must confront not only each other but also their own legacies. Who will be left when the cameras finally start rolling?

Status: Released

Released Date: 2021-09-04

Runtime: 114 mins

Director: Gastón Duprat, Mariano Cohn

Spoken language: English, Español

Genres: Comedy, Drama

Original title: Official Competition

Production Companies: The Mediapro Studio

Production Countries: Argentina, Spain

Cast

Antonio Banderas

Penélope Cruz

Oscar Martínez

José Luis Gómez

Manolo Solo

Nagore Aranburu

Irene Escolar

Pilar Castro

Koldo Olabarri

Juan Grandinetti

Coach defensa personal Félix

Jean Dominikowski

Novias Félix

Amanda Goldsmith

Novias Félix

Mary Ruiz

Novias Félix

María Guinea

Reviews

Geronimo1967

"Suárez" (José Luis Gómez) is a pharma gazillionaire who is concerned about his legacy. He considers building a bridge for the community before alighting on the idea of hiring wacky film director "Lola" (Penélope Cruz) to make a film based upon a book he hasn't even read! She recruits two actors - "Iván" (Oscar Martínez) and "Félix" (Antonio Banderas) who are the thespian equivalent of chalk and cheese. She is hoping that their rivalry will spice up her film... Well it certainly spices up this one! The former is a more method actor, a teacher, a considered and measured individual. The latter is a playboy, multi-award-winning Hollywood star with all the concomitant baggage that attracts. For the next two hours we have a really quite enjoyable series of sparring encounters, peppered with some juicily dark humour as the two play games with one and other - and with "Lola" too. They even cast the daughter of their producer "Diana" (Irene Escolar) who takes part in an hot make-out scene with the director whilst her somewhat astonished father looks on, bewildered... It's really well paced, with rarely a dull moment leading to a denouement that I found entirely satisfactory. It is a touch on the long side but is a wonderful send up of the pretentiousness of the film industry poking fun at the shallowness and pseudo-intellectualism of those involved in a frequently laugh out loud fashion. It probably doesn't need to be seen on a big screen - largely consisting of indoor photography based around their endlessly lively rehearsals, but if you do get an opportunity to watch, then you ought not to be disappointed. Cruz's hair seems to have a life of it's own too!

2022-08-29

Recommendations

3.4

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

2022-04-20

Creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, Nick Cage must accept a $1 million offer to attend

100 Reais

2025-03-20

3.3

Shadow of the Vampire

2000-08-30

Director F.W. Murnau makes a Faustian pact with a vampire to get him to star in his 1922 film "Nosfe

Les Zinzins

2024-10-09

An actress, lost in an unknown city, comes across an old lady who is just as lost in this city that

Ceci n'est pas un film de Cow-Boy

2025-06-10

3.3

Their Finest

2017-02-19

During the Blitz of World War II, a female screenwriter works on a film celebrating England's resili

2.7

Opening Day of Close-Up

1996-02-09

At his cinema in Rome, the Nuovo Sacher, Nanni Moretti anxiously oversees preparations for the premi

Kein Kino

2025-06-07

A neurotic film bro learns his lesson.

Bhaag!!

2025-06-13

Two assassins are assigned to kill the son of a reputed producer. Guns and Betrayal survive the Riv

A Night at the Silent Movie Theater

2012-01-01

A raucous comedy of errors about a singer stuck in a dead-end job who sees his last, best shot at ro

Nosferatu

2025-09-15

Nosferatu arrives in a town escaping from Van Helsing. He brings not only his curse, but ghosts from

Breaking Away

2025-08-07

Noé dreams of breaking away from the countryside. With Tom, his best friend, he spends time shooting

Nessun domani

2025-09-18

Penrose

On a film set, Kaja, a young actress, refuses to deliver her lines to her partner who is holding her

Halcones

2026-05-07

3.7

Babylon

2022-12-22

A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, tracing the rise and fall of multiple characters

Kino

2025-07-02

An observation of daily life from the perspective of a cinema employee together with the imagination

La Haine : jusqu'ici rien n'a changé

2025-12-17

The Regulars

2025-08-22

Set in London's iconic Prince Charles Cinema, The Regulars follows a day in the life of its hapless

LOSS-SHOT

2025-12-23

Felix, a 16-year-old boy, receives a diagnosis of an incurable disease and sees his life turned into