After a newly-single TV weatherman is put on leave following an on-air meltdown, he directs his energy into home improvement and hires a middle-aged Latino day laborer named Ernesto to help. Despite a language barrier and having nothing in common, the two men develop an unexpected but profound friendship.... (Full plot summary below)
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After a newly-single TV weatherman is put on leave following an on-air meltdown, he directs his energy into home improvement and hires a middle-aged Latino day laborer named Ernesto to help. Despite a language barrier and having nothing in common, the two men develop an unexpected but profound friendship.
Leave your thoughts about Papi Chulo.
| ObserverRex ReedPapi Chulo eventually turns effectively…poignant. |
| Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaThe buddy comedy Papi Chulo could go wrong in all sorts of ways, so it’s kind of a minor miracle how much it actually gets right. Funny, empathetic and tender, it pretty much sneaks up and catches you off-guard with its sly charms. |
| Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerUltimately, its most poignant details come from depicting a nonsexual friendship between a straight guy and a gay guy. |
| Los Angeles TimesCarlos AguilarThis banally titled buddy dramedy won’t solve our critical drought of empathy or advance our social justice preoccupations, but it’s a mostly enjoyable drop in the right direction. |
| Film ThreatAlex SavelievMatt Bomer and Alejandro Patiño, who play the two leads, have a chemistry that brings to mind Tom McCarthy’s superior studies of seemingly disparate characters bonding against all odds, The Station Agent and The Visitor. That unlikely companionship – the heart of Butler’s film – goes a long way to make up for other lags: underdeveloped secondary characters and a few misjudged sequences that unwittingly titter on the brink of “racist.” |
| Movie NationRoger MooreThe performances present an engaging contrast, with Bomer growing on you as you start to appreciate what’s broken in Sean, and Patiño’s deadpan shrug evolving into something more compassionate. |
| RogerEbert.comNick AllenPapi Chulo is a buddy comedy, but only by its ramshackle design — it’s a forced friendship, and it’s not cute, let alone funny. |
| The New York TimesTeo BugbeePapi Chulo tries to subvert the conceit that casts brown people as uncomplicated support systems for conflicted white people, but lacks the vision to transform these familiar stereotypes. |
| TheWrapMonica CastilloWell-intentioned but at times insensitive, Papi Chulo is a complicated movie. It wants so badly to do the right thing when the situation is all wrong. |
| VarietyPeter DebrugeAn egregiously miscalculated rent-a-companion comedy from Irish writer-director John Butler (“Handsome Devil”). |
