Is "Loco Love" "Trading Places"? Not even close (despite the theme of the rich guy and the poor guy trading places in the film). "Trading Places" is a classic. But it is a nice little film, where rich guy Donald runs a restaurant and everything he has in life, is sunk into the the restaurant, but he loses it all when his new wife has an affair and gets pregnant with someone else's baby, and gets the marriage annulled. At the same time, his Gardner Miguel hits the lottery on his birthday, and becomes a millionaire. Miguel and his brother in law then go to Donald's home to resign, but find him unconscious. Earlier, he tried to commit suicide, by hanging himself from a tree, but he failed because Miguel did a bad job gardening (the branches were weak). When they spoke to him, he explained his story (spoilers ahead). And Miguel offered to finance the restaurant in exchange for him marrying his sister Catalina (Laura Elena Herring), who could not immigrate here from Mexico. The tough thing about Catalina (Kat), is she is a very strong willed woman who scared everyone she is around (Even Miguel), which is why she could not immigrate here ( or even get married). There is one scene where Miguel's son asked him what are you afraid of and he says " Your aunt Kat." She is actually perfect for Donald, which is shown early on when he makes pancakes in the middle of the night, and instead of putting on syrup as he planned , she explained that syrup is for breakfast, and makes a Mexican sauce that is for dinners. Of course, it takes awhile for Donald to realize that. Another problem for Donald is Miguel thinks that anyone who would marry for money has no honor, so as Donald and Kat start to fall in love, he sabotages the relationship by threatening to take the restaurant away unless he is not with her. For that reason, she goes back to Mexico , and he finally realizes that he would prefer her to the restaurant , keeping his home (which Miguel and the family moved into), or anything else. At the same time , his ex tries to win him back by appearing very sexy and he rejects her (although Kat thinks he slept with her). Finally he convinces her to comeback with him to his bungalow because he has presents for her. The presents were a wedding dress and shoes, which the ex thought was for her. He has her get out of the dress, drags her out, and throws her in the pool. When Kat sees that and the presents she realizes he really does love her. Coming back to California he is finally accepted into the family, because he does have honor ( choosing love over money). Of course, by then Miguel gave the restaurant away to.... Kat. As we learned in the film, She is someone who really knows how to make a restaurant work ( she has superior customer service skills), which when combined with his cooking makes a great combination. The film ends with Kat telling Donald to dance with your wife (her). So in the end, Donald has everything he ever wanted. In particularly, a wife who can not only understand his hopes and dreams, but can help him achieve them. Basically a nice little film. 8 of 10 stars.
Review of Loco Love
