Baltasar Kormakur's 101 REYKJAVIK is a crowd-pleasing comedy that gleefully takes the concept of "family dysfunction" to an outrageous new level. Hlynur (Hilmer Snaer Gudnason), an unmotivated Icelander with no interests other than watching porn and getting drunk, still lives at home with his sympathetic mother. He has a brief fling with the beautiful Hofy (Thrudur Vilhjalmsdottir), but is too numb to pursue it on any genuine level. The arrival of his mother's friend Lola (Victoria Abril) changes all of that, however. Lola, a flamenco dancer who oozes sexuality, has decided to spend the Christmas holiday at their house. But when Mom leaves to visit a relative on New Year's Eve, the subsequent celebration results in a seemingly unavoidable tryst between Hlynur and Lola. Nothing wrong with that, Hlynur figures; that is, until Mom returns and shares some news that puts a new twist on recent events, throwing Hlynur's life into even greater confusion.
Kormakur's refreshing directorial debut, based loosely on a novel by Hallgrimur Helgason, deals with controversial issues in a lighthearted yet matter-of-fact way. Adding to the visual festivities is the film's soundtrack, a collaboration between Blur's Damon Albarn and ex-Sugarcubes member Einar Oorn Benediktsson, which cleverly reworks The Kinks' classic "Lola" in endlessly different fashions.
