The most successful franchise is Spanish film history is back for a fourth installment in ‘glorious 3-D’. The movies, sort of a contemporary equivalent to the British ‘Carry On’ series, tell the funny misadventures of sleaze ball, corrupt policeman ‘Torrente’, wisely recycling Spanish popular culture at its lowest possible form into a freaky gag feast, while taking the piss of the latest Hollywood trends.
Torrente 4: Lethal Crisis’s trashy cast is led by Alex De La Iglesia regular star Santiago Segura and features appearances by Spanish pop idol winner David Bisbal – who also sings its main theme-; glossy magazine celebrities such as the ‘Princess of the people’ Belen Esteban or the son of bullfighter Paquirri and folkloric singer Isabel Pantoja, Paquirrin ; veteran comic duo Esteso Y Pajares reunited after decades of solo careers; TV presenters Buenafuente and Risto Mejide and even six football players including Cesc Fabregas and Ramos.
Hollywood has also noticed Torrente’s incredible local popularity and has bought the rights for an American version in which Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) is rumoured to play the lead role. If they managed to translate the peculiar universe of the films into US culture, it will likely repeat its enormous success, this time worldwide.