The movie that the characters are making in the 2021 film “Official Competition” is almost certainly terrible, but its actual quality is beside the point.
What’s important is the movie’s perceived quality, so that it can win prestigious awards and burnish the reputation of its producer and financier, multi-millionaire pharmaceutical executive Humberto Suarez (Jose Luis Gomez).
There are plenty of comedies — of varying distinction — that satirize Hollywood, but not nearly as many that target self-important arthouse filmmakers who are insufferable in their own unique ways.
“Official Competition” is the perfect movie to cap the exhausting annual awards season that ends with the Oscars on March 2. After reading seemingly endless articles about which movies will or should win which awards and why, I find it refreshing to watch a movie that hilariously skewers that entire mindset, which pervades the global film industry.
Produced in Spain, “Official Competition” may not be about Hollywood, but Hollywood is never far from the minds of director Lola Cuevas (Penelope Cruz) and her two stars, Felix Rivero (Antonio Banderas) and Ivan Torres (Oscar Martinez). And it’s set to leave Hulu on March 15 — so now is the time to watch it.
‘Official Competition’ is an acting showcase that makes fun of actors
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Felix and Ivan are polar opposites, which is why Lola insists on casting them both in a film that Humberto is determined to make “the best” — whatever that means. Felix is a global superstar who has won international awards and appeared in huge box-office hits, while Ivan is a serious actor who mainly works in theater and still devotes himself to teaching acting students.
On the first day of rehearsals for the movie, Ivan arrives in a taxi, while Felix arrives in a bright orange Lamborghini driven by a sexy, much younger woman.
It would be easy for directors and co-writers Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn to mock Felix’s movie-star narcissism and present Ivan as an artist with integrity, but “Official Competition” finds plenty of mockery for both of them, especially in the hypocrisy of their supposed disdain for each other’s perspectives.
Ivan scoffs at the idea of potentially attending the Oscars if their movie gets nominated, then practices a condescending acceptance speech in front of a mirror when he thinks no one is looking. Felix derides one of Ivan’s acting class exercises, then surreptitiously tries it out while he’s alone.
Banderas and Martinez don’t hold back from making their own profession look ridiculous, but it’s their full commitment to playing self-involved actors that makes the comedy so successful. Cruz is even better, playing the equally self-important filmmaker who seems to revel in tormenting her two stars.
With a giant mane of curly red hair, she’s a force of nature as she imposes her inscrutable vision on the absurd production. One of the film’s best sight gags involves Lola suspending a giant boulder on a crane over the two men’s heads as they rehearse.
The dry wit of ‘Official Competition’ works in every language
Although both Banderas and Cruz have been in numerous American films, there’s something livelier about their performances in their native language, and nothing about the humor in “Official Competition” gets lost in translation.
Duprat and Cohn rely on plenty of visual humor, from that suspended boulder to a wood chipper that Lola uses to destroy the precious awards that she and her actors have received. The trio’s rehearsals take place in a giant empty building that was constructed for Humberto’s charitable foundation but never used — a constant reminder of his frivolous wealth.
The dialogue is equally witty, whether it’s a string of increasingly elaborate insults that Felix and Ivan hurl at each other, or Lola’s deadpan assessment of the new sci-fi TV series Felix has signed up for (“It’s so bad, it could be great”). The characters are all buffoons, but their buffoonery is in service of what they believe will make great art, or at least great entertainment.
It’s funny to watch Lola insist on microscopic changes to the way that Ivan delivers a line as banal as “Good evening,” but it’s also possible to discern the differences. That’s a testament to the performances from the real actors as well as the fictional ones. It’s healthy to laugh at pretentious artistic ambitions, but the world would be less wondrous without them.
Following months of pundits bloviating about what makes an award-winning movie, I find some catharsis in seeing the whole enterprise turned into a joke — and clearly, so do the very people who make that enterprise possible.
“Official Competition” is streaming on Hulu through March 15.
