Chasing Papi (2003)
aka: Papi Chulo

comedy
directed by : Linda Mendoza
featuring : Roselyn Sanchez - Sofia Vergara - Jaci Velaquez - Eduardo Verastegui
running time : 1 hour 20 minutes
A man learns the hard way that, when it comes to women, three is more than a crowd in this frantic comedy. Tomas Fuentes (Eduardo Verastegui) is a successful advertising man living in Los Angeles who has a way with the ladies. Almost too much of a way, in fact, since he's currently dating three beautiful women in three different cities: Lorena (Roselyn Sanchez), a bright and attractive lawyer living in Chicago; Cici (Sofia Vergara), a cocktail waitress from Miami with a fiery personality; and Patricia (Jaci Velasquez), a New Yorker looking to get out from under the domineering shadow of her mother. As it happens, all three women are fans of noted television astrologer Wlter Mercado, and on his advice, they each decide to take a bold step in their relationships and visit Tomas in L.A. Needless to say, the women are enraged to discover Tomas' rather spectacular infidelity, but that turns out to be the least of his problems after a mixture of booze and tranquilizers lands him in the hospital, a pair of crooks (D.L. Hughley and Freddy Rodriguez) kidnap him, and he discovers Cici and Patricia are wanted by the law. Produced under the title Papi Chula, Chasing Papi was the first feature film from director Linda Mendoza after an extensive resume of credits in television comedy.

Featherweight and certainly more than a little annoying, Chasing Papi nonetheless fares better than anticipated, given the shrill episodes featured in the trailers. At certain moments, its pastel production design mimics guilty pleasures like Bring It On and Charlie's Angels, effectively enough that it's almost tempting to label Chasing Papi its own guilty pleasure. Almost. The Charlie's Angels associations come from grouping together three disparate female types -- the buxom babe, the intellectual career woman, and the princess -- and sending them through a series of set pieces and other pratfalls that exploit their archetypal traits in a way that's more fun than insulting. What's not so fab is that the women initially remain devoted to their philandering boyfriend (Verastegui), catfighting for a prize that should have lost its luster, and teaming up to protect him, rather than kicking him to the curb. That spares us the distaff revenge fantasy promised in the trailers, but it requires the women to continue desperately hoping he'll choose them, when they should be seizing their untapped feminism long before the coda. Then again, it's hard to take revenge on a guy who spends much of the movie unconscious on tranquilizers. While this tends to negate the "chasing" aspect of the title, it was undoubtedly a smart decision, given Verastegui's limited acting chops. Sanchez, Vergara, and Velasquez show more energetic talents, and their sense of fun is contagious, almost in spite of the audience's better judgment. Rodriquez also turns in a comically unintelligible performance as a hoodlum with a toothache.