"Chuecatown" is a rare bird in the contemporary movie making. A dark, violent, almost Hitchcockian comedy. It would be unjust to label this charming, but not very memorable movie, a gay feature. Truth to be told, it has plenty of gay characters,and it is set in a gay part of Madrid, but the main characters are not just the gay clichés,they are actually people who happen to be gay. Of course, it helps the plot- after all it is a story about gentrification of a gay neighborhood. The jokes are sometimes funny, sometimes tired and repetitive. The actors have a good sense of comic timing. All and all, a light, non pretentious romp.

When I first saw this promoted on Spanish television, I thought it looked too stupid to bother with. But then I saw that the cast included Rosa María Sardà, Concha Velasco, Joan Crosas and Edu Soto, all of whom are tremendously talented. So I decided to give it a shot.It's a broadly played comedy/suspense piece involving the hunt for a serial killer: a snobby gay real estate developer who's bumping off old ladies and working-class people so he can gentrify Chueca, Madrid's somewhat run-down gay neighborhood. The central characters are a young, working-class gay couple who don't fit his image of the new Chueca. The film is loosely adapted from a Spanish comic book of the same title.There's strong acting all around, including a charming performance by Carlos Fuentes, who had previously appeared in "Km0." Sardà and Velasco are their usual wonderful selves (the former playing a neurotic police inspector, and the latter playing the mother-in-law from hell).I was particularly curious to see Soto in a film role, since I mostly know him as his television alter-ego (the manic club kid known as "el Neng," whom he played for years on late-night television). Here he gives a wonderfully goofy performance as a police detective.Don't look for subtlety or profound meaning in this film, but it's a fun way to pass an hour or two.At the festival screening I saw in Philadelphia, the English subtitles were basically good but problematic at spots. The translator missed all the references to American pop culture, misunderstood one or two bits of the dialog, and there were typos and spelling errors. Hopefully this will be fixed before it's released on DVD here.

I must admit to wondering if one of the reviewers here watched the same film as I have just watched.Chuecatown is a light-hearted film about the relationship of two guys interrupted by an overzealous mother and a murdering Estate Agent.With touches of early Almodovar, the dialogue was colourful with clever references to the gay lifestyle.The film shows the love that can exist between two men and how that can be affected by third parties, especially those closest to one side of the relationship.A side plot shows the relationship between a mother (Police Inspector) who is a hypochondriac and her policeman son who gradually comes out through the storyline.Yes, lots of clichés are used through the film, but with great humour and fitting perfectly in place.I sense from one of the other reviews, that some political messages were contained in the film. While these might be a bit of a spoiler for the Madrid market, it is so subtle as to have no effect on other viewers. The irony that a homophobic counsellor was played by a drag queen was well placed.I would encourage people to see this film for themselves and don't let comments put you off. Be your own judge !

Just went to see this at the London lesbian & gay film festival with 6 friends. We went because the preview clip we had seen at a screening a few weeks ago made us laugh. We all enjoyed the movie and found it funny, as did the rest of the sell-out crowd in the cinema, with laugh out loud moments and applause from the audience at some of the scenes throughout the film.Yes, there are some so-easy-to-spot-they-might-as-well-carry-a-red-flag set ups and some tired old clichés, but it didn't seem to be a film trying to make too much of a statement. It's just a light hearted picture poking fun at some gay nonsense - or at least that's the way it played tonight with the crowd. The lead women are fantastic, if a bit OTT, but the whole movie is so OTT any other characters would seem stupid. For my money Carlos Fuentes as Rey, was worth the price of the admission alone! If you like a fast moving story that has a few twists, plenty of bearish camp nonsense and a lot of laughs then you'll probably enjoy it. If you are looking for a film with a deep message, then avoid it. Any movie that has a pensioner mother slagging off her son's boyfriend by saying he has an arse 'like a Japanese flag' is never going to deliver much in the way of earnest discussion of the themes afterwards....