''A Day Without a Mexican'' is a 2004 fantasy film directed by

Sergio Arau Sergio Arau (born Alfonso Sergio Arau Corona; November 14, 1951), also known as "El Uyuyuy", is a Mexican musician, singer-songwriter, screenwriter, film director, film producer, and music producer. Life He is the son of film director Alfonso A ...

in his directorial debut from a screenplay co-written with

Yareli Arizmendi Yareli Arizmendi (1964) is a Mexican actress, writer, and director. Born in Mexico City, Arizmendi went to high school in Kansas (Academy of Mt. St. Scholastica), then received a BA in Political Science and her MFA in Theatre from the graduate act ...

and Sergio Guerrero. It stars

John Getz John William Getz (born October 15, 1946) is an American character actor. After starting his acting career on stage, he has appeared in numerous television series and films. Personal life Getz, one of four children, was born in Davenport, Iowa, ...

Maureen Flannigan Maureen Osborne Flannigan (born December 30, 1973) is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as teenager Evie Ethel Garland on the fantasy sitcom '' Out of This World'', which ran from 1987 to 1991. Early life Flannigan ...

Muse Watson Muse Watson (born July 20, 1948) is an American stage and screen actor. He became known for his roles as Ben Willis, the primary antagonist in the ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' franchise, Charles Westmoreland on the Fox television series ...

Fernando Arau Fernando Arau (born November 3, 1953) is a Mexican comedian, actor, producer and director. He is best known for his TV roles, as Chicho in Televisa's hugely successful comedy " Cachun Cachun Ra Ra" (1981–1987) and Univision's daily morning sho ...

, and

Eduardo Palomo Eduardo Estrada Palomo (; ( Mexico City; May 13, 1962 – Los Angeles; † November 6, 2003) was a Mexican actor. Palomo became famous across Mexico and Latin America after his 1993 characterization of ''Juan del Diablo'' in '' Corazón salva ...

. The plot offers a satirical look at the consequences of all the

Mexicans Mexicans ( es, mexicanos) are the citizens of the United Mexican States. The most spoken language by Mexicans is Spanish, but some may also speak languages from 68 different Indigenous linguistic groups and other languages brought to Mexi ...

in the state of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

suddenly disappearing (with a mysterious "pink fog" surrounding the state preventing any communication or movement with the outside world). The film earned over $10 million at the box office and received generally negative reviews from critics.

Cast

Release

The film opened on May 14, 2004, in limited release throughout

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

and on September 17 in theaters in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

, and New York City as well as San Jose.

Reception

Box office

''A Day Without a Mexican'' grossed $5.9 million in Mexico, and $4.2 million in the United States and Canada, for a worldwide total of $10.1 million. In Mexico, the film earned $2.7 million from 330 theaters in its opening weekend. In the United States, the film as only a moderate box-office success, earning $628,807 in its first weekend.

Critical response

The film received negative reviews from critics. Ella Taylor of the ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose pare ...

'' describes it as, "A terrific premise is mangled to a pulp, then beaten to death in this forced

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on ...

." E! was less kind, stating, "This Day not only lacks Mexicans but also good acting, sharp storytelling, and humor." At the Cartagena Film Festival, the film earned a nomination for Best Film and won Best Screenplay. It also earned a special jury award at the

Gramado Film Festival The Gramado Film Festival ( pt, Festival de Gramado) is an international film festival held annually in the Brazilian city of Gramado, Rio Grande do Sul, since 1973. In 1992, the festival began to award Latin American films produced outside of ...

and Best Editing at the

Guadalajara Film Festival The Guadalajara International Film Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara) is a week-long film festival held each March in the Mexican city of Guadalajara since 1986. The presence in Guadalajara of delegates from other impo ...

References

External links

* * 2004 films American mockumentary films Mexican comedy films Spanish comedy films 2000s mockumentary films Films set in California 2004 comedy films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{2000s-comedy-film-stub