''Chill Out!'' ( es, Descongélate!, links=no) is a 2003 Spanish comedy film written and directed by Félix Sabroso and Dunia Ayaso which stars

Pepón Nieto José Antonio Nieto Sánchez, known professionally as Pepón Nieto (born 20 January 1967) is a Spanish actor. He started his acting career in a 1993 episode of the Antena 3 TV series '' Farmacia de Guardia''. He has appeared in other TV series ...

Candela Peña María del Pilar Peña Sánchez (born 14 July 1973), professionally known as Candela Peña, is a Spanish actress. Since her film debut in the 1994 thriller '' Running Out of Time'', she has had a lengthy career in cinema. She won the Goya Award ...

Loles León María Dolores León Rodríguez (born 1 August 1950), better known as Loles León, is a Spanish actress. Career León travelled to Madrid to start a career as an actress, where she met Pedro Almodóvar during La Movida Madrileña. She has pl ...

, and

Rubén Ochandiano Rubén Ochandiano (born 3 October 1980) is a Spanish actor and director. He has appeared in more than thirty films since 1997. He has worked with some of the most interesting film directors over the world: Pedro Almodovar, Alejandro González Iñ ...

Plot

Set in a multicultural neighborhood of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, the plot follows struggling bit-part actor and impersonator Justo Santos, who is offered a lead role by film director Aitor, with the latter promptly dying from

drug overdose A drug overdose (overdose or OD) is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended.

, seemingly thwarting Justo and Justo's family (brother Berto, wife Iris, and mother Katy) yearnings to solve their dire economic hardships.

Cast

Production

The film is an

El Deseo El Deseo (also known as El Deseo S.A.) is a film production company owned by Spanish film producers the Almodóvar brothers (Pedro and Agustín). The company has financed all the films directed by Pedro starting from The Law of Desire in 198 ...

Mediapro Mediaproducción, S.L.U., better known as Mediapro, is a multimedia communications group in Spain founded in April 1994 in Barcelona. The company is well involved in movie and television production. The company holds branch offices in Madrid, Se ...

, and Filmanova production, with the participation of

Telemadrid Telemadrid is a public regional television station in the Community of Madrid, Spain, the flagship channel of the regional public broadcaster Radio Televisión Madrid (RTVM). It began its broadcast on 2 May 1989. History First years Telemadr ...

Canal+ Canal+ (Canal Plus, , meaning 'Channel Plus'; sometimes abbreviated C+ or Canal) is a French premium television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Groupe Canal+, which in turn is owned by Vivendi. The channel broadcasts several ki ...

, and Antena 3.

Release

The film screened at the 15th L'Alfàs del Pi Film Festival in July 2003. Distributed by

Warner Sogefilms Warner Sogefilms AIE was a film distribution label in Spain active from 1998 to 2005. It was created in January 1998 as a ''joint venture'' of Sogecable (Prisa) and Warner Bros., bringing the demise of Sogepaq Distribución (a previous joint vent ...

, it was released theatrically in Spain on 22 August 2003. It opened to a so-so €222,000 opening weekend gross at the domestic box office, but good word-of-mouth took it to €1.1 million after four weeks.

Reception

Jonathan Holland of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' considered that the helmers' disposable work in earlier films "settles down into something like maturity without losing its contempo edge, and first-rate performances discover unsuspected depths in the derivative, over-the-top plotline about people frantically trying to improve their lot". Jennifer Green of ''

ScreenDaily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...

'' deemed to film to be a "a sharp yet ultimately gentle comedy".

References