Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

paulijcalderon Friendship is important. Especially to the characters in this film. They may not be wealthy or have good job. But they have each other and that's all that matters to them. This is a story of the lives of a few friends in Spain and their struggle with unemployment.Everything about it felt realistic and down to Earth. The dialogue was full of funny banters and snappy answers. It's an optimistic yet at the same time a tragic story. The emotions are all balanced very well. The actors all do a fantastic jobs, especially Bardem (which goes without saying, it's to be expected). Although it's not just his show, everyone has a moment to shine.If you like realistic dramas were there's nothing too complicated going or if you're just a fan of Neorealism, then I would recommend this one for you.

pi4630 Two movies, one topic. I have watched "The pursuit of happiness" first and "Los lunes al sol" (http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0319769/) a couple of days later. Both movies have the same rating on IMDb.com and this is frankly not the case. "The pursuit of happiness" is a remix of the "one in a million" idea: one guy against all odds, facing the worst situation, makes it. I know this is a true story, but the story of *just one* who "makes it" (which can be compared to a lottery win - because how *many* people are out there trying?) may lead to the illusion that - as long as you "want" - you *can* make it. Sort of "hang on" movie. "Los lunes al sol" instead shows you what happens to the rest - to the non - Chris Gardeners of this world and is much more realistic. The fact that "The pursuit of happiness" was nominated for an Oscar confirms that we are encouraged to watch movies which consider the fate of one, not of manys. Absurd. "Los lunes al sol" is a must see.

pandabat This is the story of a group of former workers in a Spanish ship-building company and it has a gritty, realistic feel which doesn't necessarily make it great. Yes, it has it's funny moments and yes, it does capture the ennui and the growing hopelessness and impotence that unemployment, especially long-term unemployment, brings to the jobless, as well as the strains and stresses that it puts on those around them but it's all a bit too bleak and imagines itself to have a deeper running emotional relationship with the audience than is actually there. Perhaps something is lost in the translation in the English subtitles but for me this film was, a bit like Withnail & I, more a set of scenes than a whole, coherent movie and it lacks the same appeal. In ways, it is as much a story about growing older as it is about unemployment. I did feel that the characters weren't very fleshed out. We have very little of their past to go on and very little to say why they are the way they are. Maybe it's because the film is trying to play on it's own 'Siamese twin' metaphor and that it is a multi-faceted character which is the sum of all the characters' parts that we are supposed to look at, that the pride, the doubt, the anger, the quiet desperation and the persistence of spirit are in every one of these people and that if one falls, they all fall. It's possible that's what the makers went for but it's weak and tenuous in it's implementation and the metaphor is more for reference to the failure of the union strikes which preceded the end of their days in the shipyard. I'm quite a fan of foreign language films and Javier Bardem's last movie 'The Sea Inside' was one of the best that I've seen recently. However, this offering really didn't do much for me. Like I always seem to comment these days, the acting in the movie was excellently played but due to their lack of depth, these were more types than characters. If 'The Full Monty' was a light-hearted look at hope, inspiration and the pursuit of happiness and folly against a backdrop of unemployment then this is quite the opposite. This is more a look at the prison and the inmates of unemployment and in this movie, there are no great escapes!

Saruman-1 Almost nothing happens in this film, which is an important part of the message, which is after all about the boring life of the unemployed. There is comedy (especially Javier Bardem as the rebellious, witty Santa does his best in this department), there is drama, but the few really good ideas in this film are drawn out over too long a time. This works to the film's detriment, creating a plodding, slow, experience where a piece of about two thirds its length would have been interesting. Again, I do realize that the slowness is trying to be part of its message; still, adding scene after scene of essentially the same troubles of an unemployed life was not a good idea in my opinion.