''Los Enchiladas!'' is a 1999 film written, directed by and starring stand-up comedian

Mitch Hedberg Mitchell Lee Hedberg (February 24, 1968 – March 30, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian known for his surreal humor and deadpan delivery. His comedy typically featured short, sometimes one-line jokes mixed with absurd elements and non se ...

. The film was shot and set in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Content

The film is loosely based on Hedberg's life growing up in Minnesota and his experience working in restaurants. It parodies a chain Mexican restaurant in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota, on the day before

Cinco de Mayo Cinco de Mayo ( in Mexico, Spanish for "Fifth of May") is a yearly celebration held on May 5, which commemorates the anniversary of Mexico's victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, led by General Ignacio Zaragoz ...

, the busiest day of the year for Mexican restaurants. The storyline follows an ensemble cast of absurd characters that work in and visit the restaurant throughout the course of one day.

Cast and locations

The cast is composed of many of Mitch's comedian friends and rounded out by local Minnesota actors. Three different local restaurants were used to portray the film's restaurant; ''Boca Chica'' for the dining room scenes, ''Gabe's By The Park'' for the kitchen scenes, and

Chi-Chi's Chi-Chi's can either refer to a Mexican food restaurant chain founded in the United States in 1975, which continued in Europe only (as a Tex-Mex restaurant, under different ownership) after the North American owner declared bankruptcy and fold ...

Maplewood Mall Maplewood Mall is a super-regional shopping mall in Maplewood, Minnesota, United States. It is two blocks off Interstate 694 on the Saint Paul side of the Twin Cities. Maplewood Mall opened in 1974. It was later renovated and expanded in 1996 ...

for the outside of the restaurant, the last of which Mitch actually worked at many years before and was the main inspiration for the ridiculously inauthentic ''Los Enchiladas''.

Availability

''Los Enchiladas!'' premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, and has only been shown publicly a handful of times since, at comedy festivals and tributes to the deceased director, such as the one at the Paramount Theatre in

Anderson, Indiana Anderson, named after Chief William Anderson, is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Anderson, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses Madison County. Anderson ...

on August 12, 2010. It has never been publicly released for purchase or download, although Mitch's fanbase has expressed a continuing desire for the film to become available. In April 2011, an unofficial workprint copy was released on various

torrent Torrent or torrents may refer to: * A fast flowing stream Animals * Torrent duck, a species of the family Anatidae * Torrent fish * Torrent frog, various unrelated frogs * Torrent robin, a bird species * Torrent salamander, a family of s ...

and

peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network. They are said to form a peer-to-peer ...

sites. This release was opposed by Hedberg's widow, Lynn Shawcroft, who is working towards a wider release of the film.

References

External links

* 1999 comedy films 1999 films American comedy films Films set in Minnesota Films shot in Minnesota 1990s American films {{1990s-comedy-film-stub