Spanish Affair 2

"Ocho apellidos catalanes", the sequel to smash hit "Ocho apellidos vascos" suffers from the same problems of the first one: weak love- story, actors who look bored, yokel humor and ambiguous political messages about Spain and Catalonia.

The story picks up with Amaia engaged to a Catalan guy named Pau, after Rafa got cold feet and left her. Koldo, Amaia's father, goes to see Rafa for help (we never really get the reasoning behind it, because he doesn't even know Pau; it just happens). Cue Rafa and Koldo going to Catalonia, and trying to wreak havoc and stopping Amaia from marrying Pau.

What follows is worth a couple of chuckles and a smile. The humor is juvenile, and quite stupid, and no viewer will ever believer Amaia loves Pau (there's no chemistry between the actors, like none whatsoever). There are a couple of seen-a-hundred-times-but-still- acceptable funny moments, like the one where Rafa has to hide from people discovering him in his underwear in Pau's grandmother's house, but otherwise, the effort is zero.

If that was everything, the movie would end being a harmless, but boring, love story. But the movie keeps sending messages about Spain and Catalonia, with the underlying message of the stupidity of the Catalans for wanting independence behind it all. With so much to poke fun to about Spain and Catalonia, it makes little sense that they just go for the independence thing, all the jokes a variation of: those Catalan people are snobs (and funnily enough, all of them speak Castilian, not Catalan, which makes no sense either). And, if that was not enough, there are head-scratching cheap shots to hipsters and cosmopolitanism, which reinforces the idea that the movie seems to be saying that culture, education and all that is all a lie and that the dancing and music from the south of Spain is what is really worthwhile in life.

Boring and insulting.