Jalapeño
2022 · 23m · España
Directed by Alejandro de Vega, Álvaro Moriano
Javi has bet his brother Luis the Mexican restaurant they have just inherited from their grandmother: he has to get his next date to eat a whole jalapeño. But Luis will not make it easy for him, and when Javi meets Marina, the bet is compromised.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
It's a cute rom-com setup dressed in family inheritance drama, which is exactly the kind of thing that makes me suspicious—and yet the jalapeño as both MacGuffin and emotional sabotage is genuinely twisted enough to earn its whimsy, even if it never quite commits to how dark it could go.
The premise trades in a familiar lineage of romantic comedy wagers and sibling dynamics, executed with affection for the form but without the structural complexity or visual argument that would distinguish it from its tradition rather than simply inhabit it.
The film's entire architecture hinges on the brothers' relationship and the specific rhythm of how Luis sabotages the date—that comedic antagonism is the real engine, and when it works, it's because the directors found the exact tension between supportive and cruel that makes the stakes feel both ridiculous and genuine.