How to be a Latin Lover (2017) * * *

Directed by:  Ken Marino

Starring:  Eugenio Derbez, Salma Hayek, Rob Lowe, Raquel Welch, Linda Lavin, Rob Riggle, Kristen Bell, Renee Taylor, Michael Cera, Raphael Alejandro, McKenna Grace, Rob Corddry

How to be a Latin Lover is a comedy about a gold digger (Derbez) which has a heart too.    It is not an ungainly a fit as you would think.    The movie also understands how ridiculous the playboy Maximo is, but also finds a way to not make him irredeemable.    There are a lot of moving parts here, but How to be a Latin Lover has enough charm to pull through.  

We learn the origins of Maximo, who witnesses his father drive a truck through the family home as a child because he is tired and overworked.    The crash doesn't end well, and Maximo decides to become a professional trophy husband so he can be rich while not working.    As a twenty-something guy who trolls pools attended by lonely, rich women, he seduces them in hopes of marrying one so he will live the good life forever.     He meets a fiftyish wealthy woman whom he seduces after exiting a swimming pool in a yellow speedo and then fast forward to 25 years later.    Maximo is now married to the now 80-year-old woman (Taylor), whom he checks every morning to see if she is still breathing and is disappointed when she is.     Maximo lives the good life, even buying his wife an anniversary Porsche (with her money of course), and instructing servants to flip him as he sunbathes.  

But, Maximo's wife soon dumps him for a younger man.    He thinks he is entitled to half of her money, but he signed a prenuptial agreement and is now flat broke.   "No, I didn't sign a prenuptial agreement.  I signed a prenup," he protests, not having enough wherewithal to realize it is the same thing.    In desperation, Maximo visits his estranged sister Sara (Hayek) and 10-year old nephew Hugo (Alejandro).    It has been so long since he has seen Sara that he forgot not only how old Hugo is, but that he is also a boy.    Hugo goes to a private school and has a crush on Arden (Grace), whose grandmother is wealthy and thus Maximo's hopeful ticket back to the good life.    Maximo teaches Hugo how to pick up women, including mastering a confident strut, but we all know Hugo and Arden are simply an in for Maximo to make his move.  

How to be a Latin Lover never strays too far into bad taste.    There are some funny payoffs to Maximo's efforts and some fringe characters whom Maximo encounters including two brothers he stiffs on a business deal and want their money back, plus a yogurt store cashier (Bell) who is two cats away from being the youngest crazy cat lady ever, and a rival himbo (Lowe) whose wife has an insatiable sexual appetite.    Despite Maximo's maneuverings, he grows to love his nephew and reconnect with his sister.    Note to filmmakers:   Please stop having characters reconnect over all-night drinking binges which involve dancing (and in other movies clubbing).    Or smoking weed.    It is a tired cliché which grinds a movie to a halt.

Derbez, who played the Patch Adams-like  Dr. Nurko in Miracles from Heaven (2016), is a likable comic actor who is not afraid to be the butt of the joke.    Maximo is appropriately clueless as to how the real world works, which leads to some funny moments.    But, the movie also has its touching moments as Maximo realizes he loves his family after all.    You would think How to be a Latin Lover would be the last movie which could effectively tug on the heartstrings, but it does.