It is safe to assume that many people aren’t that familiar with Spanish language day time soap operas. Certainly, UK audiences may only be familiar with the concept thanks to a running joke in the TV series Arrested Development. These ‘telenovelas’ have a certain following amongst fans of bad TV, but a spoof of the genre has to appeal to a much wider audience than those familiar with it. Such esoteric pastiches can work: even those who have never seen a Blaxploitation film will enjoy the hilarious Black Dynamite. But the risk remains that, when attempting such a feat, you will alienate a large part of your audience.

Thankfully, Matt Piedmont‘s lovingly made parody/homage to Mexican day time TV succeeds to a limited extent, providing enough laughs and entertainment for the uninitiated whilst clearly being a fairly accurate exaggeration of the genre. The brainchild of Will Ferrell, the ex-SNL star headlines the show, despite having to learn Spanish specifically for the role. He’s surrounded by a cast of excellent actors who are naturally a little more fluent; Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal both prove they have excellent comic chops, whilst Genesis Rodriguez proves to be remarkably game even for some slightly ridiculous scenes.

And such scenes are plentiful in a plot about a dim rancher and his drug dealing brother, who fight over a girl that was previously attached to local kingpin Le Onza. It’s simple, but in following the formula it opens up opportunities for melodrama, which the cast exploit to great effect. So there is a sex scene that is duly terrible, poorly portrayed spirit-journeys, and OTT declarations of love. The rubbishness of the sets and costumes has a Three Amigos! Vibe about it, and will be as funny as you find films like that.

So the cast are funny, and there is a nice mocking of cinematic incompetence; not only that but the action scenes, balancing ridiculousness and genuine entertainment, are decent enough, and Ferrell clearly has fun playing the action hero. On the whole, then, Casa de mi Padre will prove to be an amusing enough evening, especially for fans of the actor and daft laughs. But the script lacks a sharpness that marks the finest of the comic’s work. The main problem seems to be that a script in another language has to be followed by the letter, so the chances for improvisation are few and far between. Ferrell’s daftness works best when he’s allowed to roam freely around the script, ad libbing and quipping in shot after shot, until the funniest result is achieved. It’s just not possible, here, and the film really suffers for it. There’s a running gag where Armando and his friends keep laughing at a joke long after it stopped being funny, and that all too often seems to represent the film as a whole.

Extras: The making of doc is a bit of a love in, but has some funny moments, such as when Ferrell describes filming the sex scene. The deleted scenes add very little – you can see why they were cut. There’s also a music video that really should have stayed in. Ferrell singing in Spanish is actually pretty impressive. The fake TV ads are ok.

Casa de mi Padre is released on Oct 1