Barcelona Movie Review

Barcelona is a new film by director Whit Stilman (Metropolitan), basically following the lives of two young American males in late 80s Spain. The Cold War is still alive, anti-Americanism is rampant, and the sexual revolution has finally hit its peak in the city of Barcelona.

Barcelona tracks two cousins, one a straight-laced salesman, the other an easygoing naval officer, along with their various love interests and unintended involvement with political intrigue. On one hand, this film is a success. The dichotomy of American and Spanish culture is fun to watch, as they are extremely different on every level—political, musical, sexual.

But Barcelona gets ugly when the sheer hatred against Americans comes out on screen. I am sure it was unintentional, but because of the substantial American backlash in the film, it causes a likewise Spanish backlash from the audience, and I had to remind myself that this was not a reality-based film. I'm sure the Spanish are a wonderful people who would never bomb USO offices and don’t normally go around shooting Americans in the head. But since all this is actually happening in the movie, I don’t see why they would want to hang around in the country for long. The whole political sub-plot of the film had me leaving the theater with a slightly foul taste in my mouth.

Barcelona has some great moments, but Stilman doesn’t have a perfect repeat of the high he found with Metropolitan. His mastery of intellectual comedy is superb, particularly if you are part of the business world and can appreciate the potshots at the “culture” of American salespeople. So gulp down that bitter aftertaste...Barcelona still tastes pretty good.