Official Competition

“Penélope Cruz delivers another casually astounding performance in Argentinean duo Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat’s conceptual comedy lark, Official Competition. The film is, in many ways, a satirical sketch comedy, but one which works like gangbusters due to the commitment of the actors and the fact that it never fully strays into the realms of the absurd. Many of the big laughs derive not from the situation, but by the pernickety interactions between the cast who offer a masterclass in comic timing and acerbic repartee. Every line delivery is immaculate, and Cruz in particular, with her ginger frizzy locks, proves that she is a comic behemoth who has too long been laid dormant. ” – David Jenkins, Little White Lies