2432. Toc Toc (2017)

Starring: Paco León, Rossy De Palma, Alexandra Jiménez

Director: Vicente Villanueva

Running Time: 96 mins

Toc Toc is a Spanish film about a group of people with variations of OCD who find themselves together in a waiting room, while their doctor is delayed on a flight, leaving all manner of chaos to ensue.

I absolutely adored this movie. An energetic, rapid-fire and hilariously frenetic watch from beginning to end, Toc Toc is an absolutely joy through and through, taking a quirky set of characters and bringing them together under one roof in brilliantly entertaining fashion, complete with hugely likable performances, brilliant humour and a great story to boot.

First off, though, the film’s sense of humour is absolutely spot-on when it comes to telling a story about a group of people with variations and differing degrees of OCD. If the film were to just poke fun at people with OCD, then it would come across as mean-spirited and entirely unlikable, but Toc Toc does a great job at letting you laugh at all the quirks that come with OCD, all the while creating a group of thoroughly likable characters that aren’t entirely about their disorder.

As a result, the movie is a pleasant watch from beginning to end, and above all a really, really funny one, with rapid-fire humour that barely lets up even for a moment, something that’s all the more impressive given that the whole film plays out in a doctor’s waiting room.

With a range of quirky personalities brought together, with the added complications of their varying afflictions, there’s ample opportunity for mishaps and chaos to follow, and so proves the case with Toc Toc, a film that continues to surprise with its consistently funny humour, likable characters, and continually evolving story.

As I said, the characters aren’t all about their various disorders, and the performances go a long way to making that one of the key elements of the movie. Sure, the actors do a good job at playing up the wide variety of afflictions and the trouble that they can get into as a result, but it’s the excellent charisma and chemistry between the leads that really makes the film a great watch, with stand-out performances from Paco León, Alexandra Jiménez and Oscar Martínez, all of whom are both utterly hilarious and really likable throughout.

The story itself is also one of the film’s most surprising elements, with a plot that develops from simply being the misadventures of a group of people stuck in a waiting room together, to something with actual depth and intrigue towards the end, and a story that I was entirely engrossed in throughout, something that works wonders with the screenplay’s fantastic eye for detail and clues as the patients begin to learn about each other and themselves.

Overall, I had a whale of a time with Toc Toc. Above all, it’s a hugely funny movie, and one that had me laughing from beginning to end, and along with thoroughly likable characters and a clever sense of humour, it’s a pleasant watch throughout too. On top of that, a strong ensemble cast, energetic and rapid-fire directing, and a surprisingly intriguing story all go a long way to making Toc Toc as enjoyable as can be, and that’s why I’m giving it an 8.4.