Torrente Presidente

*Torrente Presidente* proves that having a popular character is not the same as still having something interesting to do with him. The first *Torrente* worked because the character appeared for the first time and had shock value: a grotesque, racist, sexist, corrupt and disgusting caricature of a certain Spain. But after so many films, the formula feels exhausted. Putting Torrente into politics could have been the perfect excuse for a sharp satire of contemporary Spain, populism and public stupidity, but the film does not really bite. It mocks everyone, but that alone does not make it smart. The jokes stopped being funny long ago, the vulgarity feels mechanical and the provocation has no real intelligence behind it. Popularity is not quality. Plenty of bad things attract attention, and that does not make them worth consuming.