''Cool Daddy'' (Spanish: ''Papi Chulo'') is a 2018

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film written and directed by

John Butler John Butler may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John "Picayune" Butler (died 1864), American banjo performer; may have been used by a number of performers * John Butler (artist) (1890–1976), American artist * John Butler (author) (born 1937), ...

, starring

Matt Bomer Matthew Staton Bomer ( ; born October 11, 1977) is an American actor. His works have earned him accolades including a Golden Globe Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award, in addition to nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards. Bomer m ...

and

Alejandro Patiño Alejandro Patiño is an American actor. He has guest starred on several television programs including the recurring role of Ralph, Gabrielle Solis's new gardener, on the ABC series ''Desperate Housewives''. Other appearances include ''House'', ...

. It premiered at the

2018 Toronto International Film Festival The 43rd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 6 to 16, 2018. In June 2018, the TIFF organizers announced a program to ensure that at least 20 percent of all film critics and journalists given press accreditation to ...

Plot

Sean, a solitary and alienated television weatherman, drives past a middle-aged Hispanic migrant worker standing outside a hardware store looking for work. He decides to hire this kind-looking man, to paint his deck and for someone to talk to, in this darkly comedic reflection on class, ethnicity, and companionship in contemporary Los Angeles. Sean is young, gay and white; Ernesto, portly, straight and married. Despite having nothing in common and a language barrier, they build a sort of friendship, until Sean becomes consumed with a deeper obsessive need.

Cast

as Sean *

as Ernesto * Elena Campbell-Martinez as Linda *

Wendi McLendon-Covey Wendi McLendon-Covey (née McLendon; born October 10, 1969) is an American actress known primarily for her work in comedic and improvisational roles. From 2013 until 2023, she played the role of family matriarch Beverly Goldberg on the ABC come ...

as Ash * Michael Shepperd as Stan *

Tommie Earl Jenkins Tommie Earl Jenkins (born November 13, 1965), also known as Tee Jaye, is an American actor, musician and stage performer most noted for the voice of Ubercorn in the TV series ''Go Jetters'', acting as Die-Hardman in Death Stranding, and the ori ...

as Tom * Edgar Arreola as Elisio *

Ryan Guzman Ryan Anthony Guzman (born September 21, 1987) is an American actor. He is known for his lead roles as Sean Asa in '' Step Up Revolution'' and '' Step Up: All In'', part of the ''Step Up'' film series, as Noah Sandborn in the psychological thri ...

as Rodrigo * Shaughn Buchholz as Mike *

D'Arcy Carden D'Arcy Beth Carden (born Darcy Beth Erokan; January 4, 1980) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for portraying Janet in the NBC sitcom ''The Good Place'' (2016–2020), for which she earned a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Aw ...

as Susan

Release

''Papi Chulo'' had its world premiere at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

on September 8, 2018. The film also screened at

BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the BFI estimated that around 240 fe ...

; the

Torino Film Festival The Torino Film Festival (also called the Turin Film Festival, TFF) is an international film festival held annually in Turin, Italy. Held every November, it is the second largest film festival in Italy, following the Venice Film Festival. It was f ...

on November 23, 2018; the

Palm Springs International Film Festival Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 19 ...

on January 6, 2019; and the

Dublin International Film Festival The Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF; ) is an annual film festival that has been held in Dublin, Ireland, since 2003. History The Dublin International Film Festival was established in 2003. It was revived by Michael Dwyer (journalist), ...

on February 20, 2019. It then released in select theaters on June 7, 2019.

Reception

Critical response

Review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

gives the film rating, based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's consensus reads: "''Papi Chulo'' is a cross-cultural comedy that mostly avoids the pitfalls of its premise, largely thanks to the chemistry between its well-matched leads." Another aggregator,

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, gave the film a score of 42 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{Rotten-tomatoes, papi_chulo_2018, Papi Chulo 2018 films 2018 comedy-drama films 2010s English-language films Films set in Ireland Irish comedy-drama films American LGBTQ-related films LGBTQ-related comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films Irish LGBTQ-related films 2018 LGBTQ-related films 2010s American films 2010s Irish films Films scored by John McPhillips English-language comedy-drama films