Sex can bring people together, but it can also tear them apart. In the Mexican romantic comedy “Y Tu Mamá También” — which translates as “And Your Mother, Too” — two rich, cocky teenagers learn this harsh lesson while on a road trip to a beautiful secret beach.
Writer/director Alfonso Cuaron has created an intriguing film that dances on the line separating the pornographic from the artistically sexy. This is a gritty, realistic coming-of-age film illustrating the sexual growth of two friends who realize they have a lot to learn about how to please a woman — and each other.
While their girlfriends spend the summer traveling in Europe, Tenoch (Diego Luna) and Julio (Gael Garcia Bernal) surrender themselves to boredom in Mexico City. When they meet an older woman, Luisa (Maribel Verdu), the boys tell her they are preparing for a road trip to a fictional beach called Boca del Cielo (Heaven’s Mouth). After learning that her husband had cheated on her, Luisa asks if she may join them on the trip.
On the surface, the film only seems like an excuse to watch the characters pee and try to get laid. The film is billed as a romantic comedy, but there is nothing romantic about watching the boys spanking their monkeys by the poolside or prematurely ejaculating when trying to get it on with Luisa. Although it is kind of funny.

Some Internet reviewers have even criticized this film as being racist, showing Mexicans as stereotypically uneducated, sex-crazed, drugged-up party animals. But then again, that is a commonly accepted stereotype of teenage behavior.
The three travelers develop their friendship while on the road toward the fictional beach. Then Luisa seduces both boys, sparking arguments between them that reveal a long history of past cheating with each other’s girlfriends.
Luisa is an intriguing, multi-faceted character. She shows both strength and weakness in the film. While she is with the boys, she sets the rules and instigates the erotic interludes with Julio and Tenoch, but she hides the pain of leaving her cheating husband.
Luisa also remains a bit of a mystery throughout the film. The boys are shallow characters, and we learn all there is to know about them. But Luisa’s character has a depth that is never fully explored. Although we learn a lot of information about her, there seems to be more to her story. The audience can’t help but laugh as the boys stumble through the awkwardness of learning about life and sex. But the film also touches on the seriousness of issues such as discovering one’s sexuality, the importance of friendship and the suffering of a poverty-stricken nation. However, the characters are so caught up in their own problems that they drive through poor, desolate areas of Mexico oblivious of the poverty that surrounds them.

Unlike the characters, the audience sees both the rich and poor side of Mexico. While driving through the military check points on the way to the beach, the boys warn each other not to look out the windows at the armed officers. But the camera follows the long lines of Mexicans as they trudge along the side of the road with everything they own on their backs. Luisa and the boys turn a blind eye to the poverty of their nation, and they seem to be unaware of the surprising generosity of people who have so little to give.
Although audiences may laugh through most of the movie, they are left with a touch of sadness at the end of the film. The weird mixture of the characters’ self-absorption against a backdrop of larger life issues makes the film seem unbalanced, yet real at the same time.
“Y Tu Mamá También” is showing at the Bijou Art Cinemas. The film is in Spanish with English subtitles.