tlashop.com

Marty wrote on 12/28/2011:

While all the plot lines resolve in the end, this movie does not have the sweetness of KM.0 or the lightness of Cote d'Azur. I felt like the characters were dragged kicking and screaming toward their happy endings - and at several points wondered if they'd actually make it.

chromo.man wrote on 03/28/2011:

Top-notch production values and a large, very talented cast combine to produce a modern, screwball comedy, as we follow the soap-operish hijinks of interlocking family stories in the 2 days prior to the group wedding ceremony for the first gay marriages in Spain. Make no mistake of who the stars are (the "queens" of the title): 5 great actresses playing the mothers (and, more to the point, soon to be mothers-in-law!) of 6 of the grooms-to-be. As in any of these multi-character stories, it does take a bit of attention to initially sort out who goes with whom, and a few of the characters are (not unexpectedly) a bit over-the-top; but there is a rich, rewarding texture of human relationships of many sorts on display, and you will be glad that this was one spectacular wedding event to which you were invited!
4*

Amos Lassen wrote on 02/21/2011:

"QUEENS"
Moms, Mothers in Law, and Gay Weddings
Amos Lassen
If you love Almodovar, you will love "Queens" (Regent and Here! TV) and if you don't love Almodovar, you will love "Queens" anyway. Here is a madcap comedy about the drama of weddings-- gay weddings! So often we think of the brides or the grooms--here we get the views of the moms.
Five mothers (the queens) who are headstrong and determined prepare for the mass wedding ceremony of their gay sons (more queens), a tradition newly made possible when Spain legalized unions of members of the same sex. The women in the movie may seem familiar as they are regulars in the films of brilliant Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. The lives of the women are frantic, complicated and full of frenzy. There is one mom who doesn't care that her son is marrying a man but does care that the guy is a gardener. And there are the sons. Each of them reacts not only to his mother but to the fact that his life as a single man is about to end.
The movie takes place during one weekend and during that short period of time the queens (the mothers and the sons) create mayhem--what was to have been a moment of happiness goes awry and the worlds of anger, tolerance, sex, bigotry and almost everything else bounce off of each other and those things that were to be neat and orderly become one big mess. The weddings that were certain become pending and we are swept up into a whirlwind of comedic proportions and ill made mistakes. Just thinking of a mass wedding along with the mothers in a tow is a laughing matter. This is a clever movie dealing with a subject that we have not had a chance to see on the screen before. It is presented satirically and makes us realize that mothers at gay weddings are quite the same as mothers at any wedding.
The photography is amazing, the women are wonderful--both sets of queens are beautiful and you will laugh until you think you can't laugh anymore. You laugh at the mothers, you laugh at the sons, you laugh at the situation. What a treat!

JANORM wrote on 05/27/2008:

This is a wonderful comedic melodrama concerning Spain's first mass
Gay Wedding. It involves five very strong willed/driven mothers from families whose sons just happen to be the ones who are getting married to other men! This provides for some very solid entertainment, especially in the Spanish Culture! This is a total entertainment package that has to be added to your Collection. EVOLUTIONARY ACCEPTANCE OF SAME GENDER UNIFICATION!!!

Cyberacc wrote on 01/15/2007:

This movie wasn't a total disaster (insofar as the production values were good), but the story and situations are really hard to swallow. The film is mostly about the relationships of the women, not the gay sons. It was confusing having so many similar-aged women, stories swapping back & forth, constantly having to identify which mother belongs to which son. The situations were far too ridiculous, without being funny. Three of the women are having sex with people that are extremely unlikely to happen in real life. Just not believable. The gay guys are portrayed as weak shells.

Clearly this film concentrates on the mothers and could easily have been about straight children getting married. I feel insulted that the writers think making the children gay instantly makes the situation something to be laughed at. There aren't many films that I find difficult to sit through to the end, but this was one of them.

Note: This DVD is actually 4:3 letterbox (they couldn't be bothered to make it full anamorphic widescreen).