Let's be realistic.

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Two movies, one topic. I have watched "The pursuit of happiness" first and "Los lunes al sol" (http://www.IMDb.com/title/tt0319769/) a couple of days later. Both movies have the same rating on IMDb.com and this is frankly not the case. "The pursuit of happiness" is a remix of the "one in a million" idea: one guy against all odds, facing the worst situation, makes it. I know this is a true story, but the story of *just one* who "makes it" (which can be compared to a lottery win - because how *many* people are out there trying?) may lead to the illusion that - as long as you "want" - you *can* make it. Sort of "hang on" movie. "Los lunes al sol" instead shows you what happens to the rest - to the non - Chris Gardeners of this world and is much more realistic. The fact that "The pursuit of happiness" was nominated for an Oscar confirms that we are encouraged to watch movies which consider the fate of one, not of manys. Absurd. "Los lunes al sol" is a must see.

A title like MONDAYS IN THE SUN (LOS LUNES AL SOL) is misleading. It leads the potential viewer, also called a cinema buff, to believe he or she is going to witness something brimming with life and love and laughter -- something that incites a walk down memory lane, like AMARCORD or something. It's the equivalent of a delicately laid-out trap that has lovely pansies and gardenias but hides a black hole in which not even hope can emerge. See, this is the cheerful story of some down-and-out working-class men who find themselves unemployed. Of course, like most unemployed men, they make great strides to remedy the situation: they drink, they reminisce, they drink some more, they brood, they talk, they drink, they brood and reminisce and reminisce until all you have is one big fat essay on the Art of Stagnancy.True, I know and am fully aware that all realities were not created equal. Some people fight to come out of their situation -- as dire as it may seem -- and even though the road to success from the bottom of the pit might be rather bumpy, they triumph through perseverance. These men -- played by Javier Bardem and Luis Tosar in lead roles -- come across as whiners who would rather do as little as possible and moan about their inability to get ahead. At least, Tosar's character has a little more plausibility: his wife is now the breadwinner which besmirches his own masculinity (and for anyone unaware of Spanish culture, a man's machismo is everything), and the scene where he blows it for her when she goes to a bank to apply for a loan is all too real. It's quiet, it's tense, it's the essence of what destroys a marriage that is now on uneven grounds.LOS LUNES AL SOL is flawed by its own Neo-Realist approach to a subject such as unemployment, but denies its characters the possibility of coming through by making them escapist slobs. There is one moment of devastating horror and it happens twice: one of the men's wives has left (purportedly on an extended vacation). He holds on to the illusion she will return. Bardem takes the friend home who is too drunk to make it alone and realizes his friend is much worse off than any of them thought. It's a grim reality, to see that this is what these men's lives are worth -- abandonment and the inability to cope with reality -- and the best moment of the entire film. However, despite this powerful message, LOS LUNES AL SOL runs too long and is too plodding to sustain its weight, which is heavy.

I give this movie 10 points . The director Fernando de Aranoa investigated and talked with the unemployed people he will later portrayed in his movie. I mean the stories he's telling are for real. The performances by all the actors are magical . Bardem , of course, but all the cast is at the same level . The dialogues are so well written , never sound contrived . One thing it's clear , this movie don't leave you untouched. Fortunately Fernando de Aranoa is always improving as his latest movie "Princesas " shows . Don't miss "Los lunes al sol " it will be worth your time to watch the cast's performance .This movie won several Goyas ( Spanish academy awards ) Very moving picture

This is a great movie about middle aged men being put out to pasture. The movie actually is a film rather than a verbal story glued to a bunch of special effects. The story is told by the focus of the camera, the objects pictured, and a tilt of a head, rather than by a bunch of talking. This is what film is about. Thank God the Europeans didn't forget it. To a large extent, American filmakers have. If you like movies about the human experience that give you fresh insight, see this movie. It is to film what "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is to poetry. Except that the main character struggles to remain a strong and virile man in the face of emasculaing business, while Prufrock was more of a frightened person in the face of discovering his mediocrity.