Chasing Papi
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| Chasing Papi | |
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| Directed by | Linda Mendoza |
| Produced by | Laura Angelica Simon Tracey Trench Forest Whitaker |
| Written by | Laura Angelica Simon Steve Antin |
| Starring | Roselyn Sanchez Sofía Vergara Jaci Velasquez Eduardo Verástegui Lisa Vidal |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | April 16, 2003 |
| Running time | 80 min. |
| Language | English Spanish |
| Budget | $9,000,000 USD |
| IMDb profile | |
Chasing Papi is a 2003 film starring Roselyn Sanchez, Sofía Vergara, Jaci Velasquez, and Eduardo Verástegui. The three women discover that their boyfriend, played by Verástegui, has been dating all three of them at the same time -- a discovery that leads them on a fast-paced adventure throughout Los Angeles, California.
[edit] Tagline
- Three women. Three cities. Three times the trouble.
[edit] Plot
The plot of "Chasing Papi" revolves around Tomás Fuentes (Verástegui) to whom the viewer is introduced first via an animated re-telling of his birth, child and later adulthood. In each stage of his life, there are women fawning over him mainly due to his charm and good looks. Three women have become ensnared by such; a cocktail waitress from Miami (Vergara), a debutante of New York's high society (Velázquez) and a lawyer from Chicago (Sanchez). "Papi" is the endearing nickname given to him by these three. The story opens, post animated life intro, with Tomás visiting all three to give them a gift. The viewer later discovers all three received the same one.
Cici (just Cici, like Cher or Charo, played by Vergara) lives a fast paced life full of rhythm and passion, enjoys being the center of attention and has dreams of being what she calls "a real dancer." When it comes to relationships, she's the jealous type and has even threatened karmic retribution on Tomás via a demon called "La Llorona" defined as "a spirit in Latin methodology who haunts naughty children."
Lorena Morales (played by Sanchez) favors order, appreciates schedules, respects deadlines and puts in extra hours at the office fighting for "the people who have no voice." She buries herself in Tomás' ability to woo her with the intellectual words of famous poets. She enjoys how his ability to whisper sweet nothings in her ear makes her feel sexy, even if she doesn't even know she is.
Patricia Sofia Ordonez Coronado del Pescador (played by Velázquez) is a member of New York's elite, who's growing ever more tired of her life filled with cotillions and parties; a seemingly endless array of opportunities for her mother to marry her off as if it was some sort of life's dream or goal. Tomás gives her hope of escaping all that coupled with spontaneity and a little danger. In spite of her mother's wishes, she continues seeing Tomás and will run away if she has to. But first she must try on her mother's wedding dress... again.
Each one believes she is the only woman is Fuentes' life.
Back in Los Angeles, we meet a fourth woman. Unfortunately, she is not part of his love life since, according to Fuentes, she is "definitely not pretty and [he doesn't] know the color of her hair." She is his secretary, Mary, played by singer Joy Enriquez who also believes in La Llorona and works at the Olivero & Sanchez Marketing Group. Fuentes is their best advertising executive. Their latest product, a perfume named "Memento", combines "strength and intelligence, sassiness and sexuality, also class and beauty;" collectively, the many attributes of a woman. During his presentation of the perfume to potential buyers, he's confronted with both visions of his three girlfriends and the screams of "La Llorona" and passes out. His doctor learns of the love triangle, tries to get Tomás to choose only one woman and, with no success, prescribes him some tranquilizers and advises against driving, alcohol and women.
All three women's lives are literally brought together by two things. The first is Walter Mercado, Univision's Primer Impacto fortune teller, reading off each of their horoscopes. Lorena refuses to admit she watches but hears hers anyway. Cici hears hers after hearing random news about the "Whittaker counterfeit ring" that has yet to be crushed by authorities. Patricia listens to hers while flipping through channels, bored. Lorena is a Virgo and Cici is a Scorpio and Patricia is a Capricorn. Also, the viewer learns later that Patricia's dog, Fifi, is a Cancer, but all three of their horoscopes tell them to do the same thing. Whether it is to stop another girl from getting him or to give love a higher priority, they are advised to surprise him, the man they love, ASAP.
ASAP couldn't be soon enough. Cici's business partner, Fala's, boyfriend, Ricky, needed his car taken to Los Angeles for him since he was in jail. According to Ricky, he sold the car on the Internet. Fala didn't even know he had a computer but Cici is willing to take the car since it provides her with a chance to see her Papi. Coupled with Patricia and Lorena's arrangements, all three end up heading to Los Angeles at the same time. Turns out Ricky was involved in the counterfeit ring and FBI agent Carmen Rivera, played by Lisa Vidal, follows Ricky's car (and therefore Cici) in connection with the investigation.
All four arrive at Tomás' Los Angeles home and his three girlfriends let themselves in either by finding a spare key, opening an unlocked side door or by simply picking the lock. The gift Tomás gave them all was a revealing piece of red lingerie and, instead of surprising their Papi by having them on, they surprise each other with not only the underwear but with their existence. In an act of honor, all three agree to leave and not come back and basically break contact with Fuentes for cheating on them. In their absence, Tomás drives home and takes his tranquilizers with alcohol. The girls each have second thoughts about leaving Tomás cold turkey and return to confront Tomás directly. First Lorena, then Patricia and finally Cici, causing Tomás to drink too much alcohol and take too many tranquilizers between their arrivals causing him to pass out again. During all this, Agent Rivera stayed outside and was reporting back to headquarters about where she was. She is mistaken by Tomás' three girlfriends as "The L.A. woman" after a telephone message from Mary is received.
Scared by Agent Rivera's firearm, the girls now decide to take Tomás out of the house and wait until he wakes up and decide which girls he wants to be with. Upon loading all their bags in Ricky's car, the viewer, if they counted the bags, realizes there's one more in the trunk. A short chase ensues but, with Cici driving, they manage to lose the "hoochie mama." Upon realizing they're going to need a place to stay, they go in search of a hotel. Patricia suggests a Marriott hotel over Cici's suggestion of a Motel 6. Cici convinces a bellhop to load the unconscious Tomás in a luggage cart with their bags while Patricia gets them a room. Unfortunately, Patricia's credit cards have been cancelled by her mother. However, Lorena is their saving grace. The Miss Latina American Beauty Pagent is being held in that very same hotel and Miss Puerto Rico's flight was delayed. Lorena bears a slight resemblance to the real beauty contestant, played by ex-Eden's Crush and current Pussycat Dolls member Nicole Scherzinger, and takes her place. Cici passes herself off as Lorena's manager and introduces Patricia as the maid. When moving their bags to Miss Puerto Rico's room, the "extra bag" falls off the cart onto the luggage room floor.
In the hotel room, all three girls have dinner, empty three bottles of champagne and share their life stories with each other. They each then have a dream in which they end up with Tomás. Lorena's involves a beauty pagent, which she wins, that ends with Tomás proposing to her. Cici's dream is on stage, where she is the principal dancer and Tomás carries her off with a promise to devote himself only to her. Patricia's dream has a Cinderella theme, in which Cici and Lorena are her two evil stepsisters and Tomás is her prince. Even Fifi dreams with Tomás as her new master. However, in all three girls' dreams, they each feel bad in leaving the other two behind. They oversleep and the temporary Miss Puerto Rico missed her brunch and has to meet the judges. However, the time has also come for Cici to deliver Ricky's car to a man named Rodrigo, played by D.L. Hughley, who apparently bought Ricky's car. Threatening to reveal the truth about Lorena's identity, Cici gets the girls come to an agreement. They leave Tomás bound with the lingerie but, in their absence, he's taken by Agent Rivera who has followed them to the hotel and used her credentials to get into the room. Upon returning to hotel in Ricky's car with Rodrigo's associate, Victor, played by Freddie Rodriguez, who is in pain from a recent root canal procedure, the girls discover Tomás is missing and a note that reads, "If you want your Papi back, bring the money to the Don Quixote puppet at L.A. Latin festival at 5 PM. No cops." The girls argue while Victor checks their bags in search of the money, which is what is in the "extra bag". When he touches Patricia's bag, she hits him over the head with a lamp. Cici calls Fala back in Miami for answers but doesn't get any. All that is left is to follow the instructions in the note but they are stopped once again. This time by Costas Delgado, played by Paul Rodriguez, the director of the pagent, who has been looking for Lorena and needs her to meet with the judges. Patricia finds the bag with the money in the luggage room and Cici gets a map to the festival. Victor calls Rodrigo and both plan to catch the girls at the festival. Outside, it appears that Agent Rivera has left the note and intends to use Tomás and his three girlfriends in order to detain Victor and Rodrigo and is prepared to follow them to the festival.
At the beauty pageant, the contestants are being interviewed by judges. While Miss Mexico is being interviewed, Lorena is having trouble blending in and adjusting to her seat, which is in between Miss Costa Rica and Miss Bolivia. After finally doing so, she unbuttons her blouse slightly to show off her cleavage. Costas helps her with her sash. After Miss Mexico, its Miss Puerto Rico's turn but Lorena is busy adjusting herself but eventually goes up to be interviewed by the judges. During her interview, Patricia and Cici arrive and take their place in the audience. Lorena's political side shows as she proposes entrance exams for all contestants and speaks of the goals of Latina beauty pagents. All is unfortunately for naught as the real Miss Puerto Rico storms in and outs Lorena as an imposter. Cici trips her allowing all three to escape. Tomás finally wakes up in Agent Rivera's car and believes he is hallucinating. Agent Rivera assures him he isn't, tells him of her plan and follows the girls to the festival as they leave in Ricky's car. On the way, Tomás opens up to Agent Rivera and even hits on her but she doesn't bite.
On the way, the girls' car runs out of gas and they pull into a gas station just as their car breaks down completely. Seeing a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, Cici and Lorena get the idea to drive it the remaining distance to the festival. The problem is neither girl knows how to drive a motorcycle. Fortunately, Patricia does. Promising the owner to bring it right back, the girls take the motorcycle the rest of the way to the festival losing both the map and Agent Rivera in the process. All five (Lorena, Patricia, Cici, Carmen and Tomás) arrive at the festival at the same time, though, and Carmen is happy they did. Victor and Rodrigo arrive together too. The girls see the puppet is behind the stage. Running through the crowd to avoid the cops, Patricia loses one of her colored contact lenses. Instead of looking for it, she takes the other one out. Cici and Lorena agree she looks "so much prettier without all that money." Victor and Rodrigo spot them and the girls run on stage where Sheila E. is performing and dance to singer Christina Vidal's song, Dejaré regardless of their mixed dance backgrounds. Victor and Rodrigo get closer to the stage, causing the girls to run off mid-performance. They all run to the puppet, where FBI agents surround them and apprehend Victor and Rodrigo and where the girls are finally reunited with Tomás.
All three girls decide to leave Tomás and Tomás decides to take Agent Carmen's advice and spend some time alone. But first, he takes Carmen out for dinner. Returning to the festival crowds, the girls are invited to return to the stage where they dance to Christina Vidal's song It's All About Nothing. The movie's timeline advances five months later and it seems the girls have kept in touch. Patricia has moved into her own apartment with Fifi and got a job at an art gallery. Cici entertains on a cruise liner with her business partner Fala. Lorena is still a lawyer working pro bono but puts her time off to good use and becomes the self-proclaimed "Queen of Tango". Walter Mercado appears on Patricia's television and Fifi hears her horoscope that advises her to "go outside the door because love is waiting for [her]." The movie ends with Fifi doing just that and finding her "Puppy Chulo."
[edit] Cameos and appearances
The movie features several cameo appearances, including singer Carlos Ponce and Primer Impacto news reporter Barbara Bermudo.
Other entertainers who act in the film include ex-Eden's Crush member Ivette Sosa and Maria Conchita Alonso.
