One of the most talented Spanish filmmakers and, perhaps, the most underrated due to the type of films he makes, is Javier Feser. His absolutely cheeky and surreal humor does not attract much attention from that professional critic who is looking only for great dramatic works. And it is not that his still short filmography is made up entirely of unforgettable stories, but more than one falls into that category and his audiovisual production is prodigious.
Making laugh well, apart from the varied sensitivities, is not properly respected. And, looking beyond his feature films, one discovers that he has given us the funniest piece on astronauts that you can find; either unbelievable and outrageous nonsense about depression. But it is that two of his films have triumphed in the Goya: Roadin 2009, Y championsin 2019. And Mortadelo and Filemón against Jimmy, the Horny was recognized in the animated section in 2015.
Also, his short Binta and the great idea (2004) surprised us by being Oscar nominated of 2007. He deserves more. “I blindly believe that humor is a tool to unite and tell great truths and understand great tragedies”, declared in 2020. “Movies that manage humor include many shades, like life itself, and laughing is the ultimate goal for all of us. I believe that laughing is a very serious thing: laugh a lot, really, and feel comfortable doing it”.
The assessment made by specialized critics from the work of Sam Raimi
This is the ranking of the best films by Javier Fesser according to information from the area of Rotten Tomatoes for critics:
- champions (2018): average grade of 6.4 out of 10 in 12 reviews.
- Mortadelo and Filemón against Jimmy, the Horny (2014): mean of 5.4 in 5 reviews.
- Road (2008): mean of 5.1 in 8 reviews.
No data on The miracle of P. Tinto (1998), nor The great adventure of Mortadelo and Filemón (2003) nor sad stories (2020).
Rotten Tomatoes moviegoers’ opinion
Anonymous users who vote on Rotten Tomatoes leave us this result about Javier Fesser’s work:
- The miracle of P. Tinto: average mark of 4.4 out of 5 with more than 500 votes.
- champions: half of 4 with more than 50 votes.
- sad stories: half of 3.9 with less than 50 votes.
- Road: half of 3.8 with more than 1,000 votes.
- Mortadelo and Filemón against Jimmy, the Horny: half of 3.4 with less than 50 votes.
- The great adventure of Mortadelo and Filemón: half of 3.1 with more than 250 votes.
Opinion of IMDb moviegoers
On the other hand, here are the numbers that IMDb gives us about what the public thinks of Javier Fesser’s films:
- Road: average mark of 7.4 out of 10 with 5,053 votes.
- champions: half of 7.2 with 10,147 votes.
- The miracle of P. Tinto: half of 7.1 with 3,998 votes.
- sad stories: half of 6.6 with 1,679 votes.
- Mortadelo and Filemón against Jimmy, the Horny: half of 6.4 with 1,971 votes.
- The great adventure of Mortadelo and Filemón: half of 5.3 with 3,450 votes.
FilmAffinity moviegoers’ opinion
And finally, this is the information that FilmAffinity gives us:
- Road: average mark of 7.2 out of 10 with 42,131 votes.
- champions: half of 6.9 with 34,762 votes.
- The miracle of P. Tinto: half of 6.4 with 36,544 votes.
- sad stories: half of 6.2 with 8,096 votes.
- Mortadelo and Filemón against Jimmy, the Horny: half of 6.2 with 11,253 votes.
- The great adventure of Mortadelo and Filemón: half of 4.8 with 41,371 votes.
Conclusions about the best and the worst of Javier Fesser
As it is a Spanish filmmaker with little international projection, we only have data on what the critics of half think of his feature films. Be that as it may, the one that appears as The best is champions. For Rotten Tomatoes voters, though, it trumps her. The miracle of P. Tinto; and from the perspective of those at IMDb and FilmAffinity, that honor belongs to Road.
But the funny thing comes when, due to the lack of pertinent information, critics point to the latter with respect to the worst by Javier Fesser. This being the case, it is most likely that they would coincide with the viewers of the three pages when choosing The great adventure of Mortadelo and Filemón to fan a fire.