QUEENS by Manuel Gómez Pereira: Film Review
by Andre Soares
Reinas / Queens (2005) 
Director: Manuel Gómez Pereira. Screenplay: Yolanda García Serrano, Joaquín Oristrell, and Manuel Gómez Pereira. Cast: Betiana Blum, Carmen Maura, Verónica Forqué, Marisa Paredes, Mercedes Sampietro, Gustavo Salmerón, Unax Ugalde, Hugo Silva, Daniel Hendler, Paco León, Raúl Jiménez, Tito Valverde, Lluís Homar
Reinas / Queens is Manuel Gómez Pereira’s dramatic comedy about five mothers (Verónica Forqué, Carmen Maura, Betiana Blum, Mercedes Sampietro, and Marisa Paredes) who must cope with their gay sons’ (and their own) romantic problems as they all get ready for Spain’s first mass gay wedding ceremony. The film, made by Warner Bros. Spain, has the look and feel of a glossy Hollywood flick — or of a non-English-language film begging for an American remake. But cheesy commercialism and sentimentality aside, Reinas boasts a couple of first-rate performances — Forqué as a nymphomaniac, Blum as a sweet-as-overripe-apple-pie Mom — and delivers more than
a few good laughs.
Reviewed at the AFI FEST 2005
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