Desalia la Película
2017 · 13m · España
Directed by Ernesto Sevilla
Two plain girls try by every means to flirt with the good-looking boy at a party aboard a cruise ship. They will need the help of Mr Melvin to achieve it.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A cruise ship romantic comedy with a mysteriously helpful third-party enabler named Mr. Melvin—it's got that delicious 'why is this even a premise' energy that makes you lean forward. The fact that it commits to this whimsical, almost absurdist flirtation machinery instead of playing it straight makes it exactly the kind of thing other scouts would pass on, which is precisely why it works.
The film's debt to European comedy traditions—the ensemble logistics, the farcical escalation aboard a contained space—is evident, though the execution lacks the formal precision and editing rigor that would elevate it into conversation with the lineage it's clearly reaching toward.
The choice to make Mr. Melvin a figure of benign, almost magical assistance rather than a typical wingman character is clever, and it's the kind of tonal decision that could either anchor the whole enterprise or send it adrift depending on how the performance lands.