I’M Not Like That No More

Starring: Felipe Esparza, Paul Rodriguez, Deborah Baker Jr.

Director: Christian Sesma

Rated: R

Felipe Venezuela is 30’s years old still lives at home with his extended Mexican-American family and works the graveyard shift so he won’t have to work. Felipe realizes he needs to change when he loses his job and meets the girl of his dreams.

Esparza (The winner of the seventh season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing) plays the Lazy un ambitious Felipe, He lives at home with his parents who are about to get a divorce, his Gay brother, His other Brother who lives at home with his mentally challenged wife, and his Grandmother. When he loses his job and meets the girl of his dreams Jill (Deborah Baker Jr.) Felipe soon realizes that getting the girl might be more fun than getting drunk and high with his boys and going home alone to his parent’s house.

Esparza pulls a trick out of the “Saved by The Bell” playbook freezing everyone mid scene to break the fourth wall and speak directly with the camera, sometimes to hilarious effect, other times what seems to be a way to just run through some standup material. “INLTNM” does have its moments, I actually laughed quite a bit when his wacked out sister in law gave Felipe’s brother in Law an “Old Fashioned” while on the top bunk, if I was a Mexican-American I would probably relate more to the film and find it funnier than I did. I recognize that I am not the audience that this film caters to nor should I be. This is most likely the Mexican-American equivalent of “Friday”.

Grade-69