This movie is called "Kika" yet does not tell the story of the cosmetologist, just smalls bits of it. It should be called "Nicolas meets Kika" or "Ramon meets Kika", which are the ones this movie is about. Nevertheless, Kika's appearance doesn't affect the plot line. Nick's crazy killing spree would've been far more interesting if there was any background at all, and at the beginning when Ramon's mother commits "suicide" it is very plain to see that someone else shot her in the chest, leaving the rest of the movie pretty predictable. I know this is supposedly a comedy, but the raping scene it's just awful and Kika's reaction afterward even more unrealistic. I wanted to see how Pablo was caught and Kika turned into lesbian, and formed a couple with Juana. Also I wanted to see more about Andrea Scarface's show and Juana's obvious lesbianism. I completely disliked this film, it didn't made me laugh even once and the only thing I can say I agree about, is Juana's lines about not wanting to shave because mustaches are not men's heritage only.

In his obvious effort to "keep pushing the envelope," filmmaker Pedro Almodovar forgot how to concoct a coherent story with characters you care about. He has neither in here. Maybe he just doesn't care. Maybe, after some early successes, he just wants to shock people.This Spaniard's films are consistently twisted. They aren't erotic; just just semi- porn stuff and just plain vulgar, this being a prime example His actors must feel the same. Has anyone noticed how many low-life films, in addition to this one, Peter Coyote has been in?His female co-star, Veronica Forque, plays an extremely annoying character who does nothing but yak on and on. What makes that even more difficult for the English-speaking audiences in the theater (or at home) is that the subtitles come on rapid-fire, giving you almost no chance to view the visuals. This is entertainment? Hardly. As one reviewer put: "garbage."

I am quite an easy person but some things I can't understand, the meaning of this movie for instance... Never been that much of an Almodovar-fan myself it was a very difficult task to watch one his most extravagant movies ever. Do I need to tell the story? Let's hope there is one as the viewer is in the company of some dumb girl called Kika who is looking for the love of her life and somewhere she can't decide between a father and son. To tell something very simple, Almodovar thinks it's better to mix that up with some stupid detectivestory, something psychological (a dumb performance from Veronica Forque who plays a sort of SF=inspired TVpresentator who is looking for freaks), something hilarious (if you can make rape like slapstick then Almodovar is your guy) and actors who are completely not at their place, Peter Coyote for instance. Come on, guys, this is just as dumb as a current Eddie Murphyfilm but it's only for the so called intelligent whatever that might be worth...

Maybe this isn't as good as the bulk of Almodóvar's output: not having seen the bulk of his output, I'm in no position to tell. I do remember that there was general disappointment in 1993. As I recall - obviously, one could find out by checking primary documents whether or not my recollection is correct - every critic and his dog took the opportunity to say "This time Almodóvar has gone too far", which meant, depending on the critic, either "Almodóvar is being too silly", "Almodóvar is trying too hard to get our attention", or "Almodóvar has finally lapsed into morally reprehensible sexism".I find all of these reactions hard to understand. "Kika" is such a sweet, such an INNOCENT film! Maybe you didn't have fun, as I did; but how could anyone OBJECT to it? Far from being hard to like, the characters were such that I found myself warming to the worst of them: Kika herself is completely adorable, the outrageous Andrea turned out to have a heart, of sorts - certainly she had an ethos -, and even Nicholas and Ramón revealed some human traits. If I have a complaint about anyone's characterisation it would be Ramón's. When we first meet him he's just a cold fish; not a bad man, but we can't like him. By the end of the film I found myself wondering if the mild warmth Almodóvar discovered had really been there all along, or if he it had been smuggled in when we weren't looking. No matter: the film isn't about him, anyway.There's nothing gruesome about "Kika", nothing cruel, nothing hard to watch. (Well, maybe a touch of blood in one final scene, but I can forgive that.) There's a lot of sex, no doubt, but none of that terribly EARNEST stuff one finds in American movies...[I'm about to reveal something. Stop reading now if you haven't seen the film.] ...One of the things I'm sure many critics objected to was the rape scene. Almodóvar played it as a comedy, in the way that so many directors will play an armed robbery - and it was a kind of armed robbery - as comedy. At first we wonder if Kika is so clueless that she doesn't realise she's being raped. But in fact she's just postponing her shock, in a way that is - well, ludicrous, but also commonplace. The entire extended sequence of which the rape is part is so delightfully ridiculous BECAUSE, not in spite of, all the characters' perfect clarity of purpose.If this IS one of Almodóvar's lesser works I shouldn't hesitate to see the rest.