Only Human (2006)

Can a nice Spanish Jewish girl (Mariàn Aguilera) bring her nice Palestinian fiancé (Guillermo Toledo) into her crazy family's three-ring Madrid apartment without mama (Norma Aleandro) sticking her head in the oven? The cheery, expertly constructed Spanish farce Only Human answers sí — but only after each member of the family circus has, in classic farcical fashion, had a ripe opportunity to intensify the mayhem. Put it this way: Sister's a slutty bellydancer, brother's become stridently religious, and a block of frozen soup carries the threat of death.

Married writer-directors Dominic Harari and Teresa De Pelegrí keep the action moving so gracefully that the staginess becomes an asset: It's pleasant to imagine Only Human productions in high schools around the world, substituting Sunnis and Shiites, Minnesotans and North Dakotans, all just getting along.