Young Latino Hollywood Talks Cine Crushes & Worst Dates

Valentine’s Day is here! For some, it’s a day full of joy and hubris, where cherubs are your local baristas complete with handle-bar mustaches. It’s a day you ride unicorns to work and nothing will get in the way of you delivering those flowers you fought for like “This is Sparta.” It’s a day your wildest dreams will be exceeded and you might even get a marriage proposal! Nothing can top that feeling of euphoria. Not even Luther Vandross singing “Always and Forever” to a bunch of dolphins can top that sh*t… And then there’s those for whom V-day is abhorrent and full of rue. It’s like a herpes breakout, an embarrassing reminder that somewhere you went wrong (like the time you proposed on Valentines Day). It’s a catalog of memories of failed romances, all accumulated into one day. You almost wish you had been catfished, so you wouldn’t have ever met them at all… Anyways, we got to chop it up with young Latino Hollywood about their favorite romantic films, their cine-crushes and in the spirit of los haters de San Valentin: their worst date.

“I think I’ll have to say Natalie Portman in ‘Garden State’. ‘Love her in that. Maybe minus the helmet and epilepsy but I think I’d be able to deal with it. Something about a beautiful woman that can make me laugh. My favorite romantic film has to be Charlie Chaplin’s ‘City Lights’ – BEAUTIFUL! One of my favorite movies ever and not a word is spoken. I remember seeing it at the age of 16 for the first time and it made my heart explode. And ‘Pretty in Pink’ always makes me feel like I’m Duckie at heart.” Jorge Diaz of Love, Concord, Filly Brown, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

“My worst Valentine’s date was when my ex-boyfriend spent the day with his best friend instead of me because his best friend’s birthday is on Valentine’s Day. He tried to make up for this by scheduling our date for February 13th instead of the 14th. He had a nice dinner date and a movie planned but his best friend (the birthday boy) and his other friends crashed our entire date and took over. Dinner was awkward and the birthday boy joined us after and even chose the movie. The worst was what happened during the movie, I decided to lay my head on his shoulder and because I was wearing a hat he couldn’t see my eyes and he thought that I had fallen asleep. His phone received a text message from a girl that read “Happy Valentines baby! Miss you and care about you. You’re very special, I hope your girl knows what she got”. And that’s when I found out he had been cheating on me!” Francia Raisa of Chastity Bites

“Favorite Romantic Film: ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’ is probably the most romantic story I have ever seen. This film moves me in a way no other film has. No matter how many times I see it I always cry and that to me is wonderful. It is a story of impossible love accompanied by the most beautiful music and color. Although the main characters do not end up together, the film shows their early stages of love and courtship so beautifully. One can be so lucky to experience such hope and blissfulness, even for just a moment. It is anything but predictable just the way life and love really is.” Diane Guerrero of Emoticon

“Lou Diamond Philips as Richie Valens in ‘La Bamba’. I dreamt of him serenading me to “Oh Donna” when I was younger. I still swoon at the thought of it. Lou is so young, handsome, and hopeful and “Richie Valens” is such a tragic hero. To have a man write and sing you songs, I mean come on, it doesn’t get anymore dreamy than that. I married a poet and he writes me poems, I guess I made my dream come true!” Julia Grob of East WillyB

“I was once set up on the worst blind date ever. It was like eating dinner with Dr. Jekyll and Mrs Hyde. One minute she was trying to wine and dine me and the next she was throwing every insult you can imagine my way. It was very confusing.” Roberto Aguirre of Struck By Lightning

“My crush would be Salma Hayek… Come on now, do I really need to say any more? She’s perfection.” Joseph Julian Soria of Army Wives, Mission Park

“My favorite romantic movie is ‘True Romance’. Always. A reckless love story. When two unlikely lovers cross paths and fall madly in love in record time and he fights to the death for her freedom from her pimp so they can run away together with millions of dollars worth of drug money!? Oh! My heart melts.” Alicia Sixtos of East Los High

“My perfect cine girlfriend would have to be Kate Winslet! She is not only stunning, but also ridiculously talented and the British accent doesn’t hurt either. She had me at Titanic! And ‘King Kong’ is the most romantic film of all time! There is nothing more touching that the love of a giant gorilla and Jessica Lange. LOL! Seriously, ‘Out of Africa’ is my favorite romantic film. How can you beat Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, and the music by Stephan Grimes really punctuates a beautiful true story.” Jeremy Ray Valdez of Mission Park, H.O.M.E

“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Just a great film! We all wish we could forget that someone who may have caused us pain. It’s a bitter sweet movie and bitter sweet is what love is all about” Rayniel Rufino of Trouble in the Heights

“My favorite film is ‘Big Fish’ by Tim Burton and although it’s not a traditional romantic film, it definitely showcases “Love” the way I like to think it truly is. That movie inspires me every time I watch it. Ewan McGregor is the perfect leading man in this film and it makes me believe in love at first sight. My worst date ever would have to include too much PDA. There is nothing more unattractive than two people in public doing what should be done in private. I also would be tortured if I went on a date with someone who smells bad and talked only about themselves haha!”Denise Bidot of Curvy Girls, Habla

“Matt Bomer!!! Oh wait, I’m barking up the wrong tree aren’t I? But goodness, look at that face!  My fave romantic film is definitely Dirty Dancing. It’s actually my favorite movie, period. I don’t care if I sound cheesy or corny, I’ve loved that movie ever since I can remember. Yes, I watched it as a kid and my mom would make me close my eyes during certain parts. It’s nice to be able to watch the full movie now, even though I still feel like someone’s telling me “cover your eyes” sometimes haha.” Janine Larina of East Los High

“I can say, best boyfriend from any era of film would have to be the dude from the movie ‘The Princess Bride’! What’s that dudes name? Oh, he was so delicious and heroic! Chivalry at its best! I don’t admire men often but when I do it’s the dude from ‘The Princess Bride’. Omg WORST DATE EVER was with this dude about 2 years ago! I want to say his name only for the small, minute, almost impossible possibility that he would read this because he should know how awful it was! But alas I won’t! He took me to this bar, Village Idiot, for dinner and if tossing his car keys to the valet while he walked in the joint (keys that were definitely not caught by valet) wasn’t obnoxious enough, he then told the hostess “best table, they know me here” except NO they didn’t! We proceed to sit down and he goes on this rant about how much money he has, who he knows and why he is the ultimate LA bachelor! As I sit there stirring in my contempt for this over the top ridiculous man, he stops and says “Well it’s not ladylike to look so ugly, smile at least!” I wanted to stab him with my fork! I respond “Well I usually smile when I’m happy, entertained, excited and I’m none of those right now. I would like to leave…now” and with that I dropped cash on the table and walked right out. Worst date ever! Gina Rodriguez of Filly Brown, Sleeping with the Fishes

“It’d have to be January Jones and of course, in the MAD MEN era. What is that, the 60’s right? I love the show but also hate it because Don Draper gets to come home to her. There’s something about how patient and loving she is. Such a soothing voice. I’d let her talk my ear off” Walter Perez of Mission Park

“My favorite romantic film would definitely be ‘Amelie’, because it’s about a young girl on a journey fueled by love, the love of helping others selflessly and in the midst of it all, she falls in love with a quirky guy who collects photo booth pictures. It’s a sweet little unique story, not to mention it was such a musical inspiration for me, I can play majority of the songs from it on the piano – Just so lovely!!! I’d highly suggest adding it to your movie list” Andrea Sixtos of Sunset Stories

“The Wedding Planner, because they were going down different paths but still ended up together. For awhile after I watched the movie I would only eat the brown M&Ms haha! And worst date, one Valentines Day I was supposed go out with my boyfriend, he picked me up and when we got in the car we had a huge fight and broke up. So the date just made it to the drive way” Chelsea Rendon of A Better Life, Kill Kapone

“Andy Garcia in ‘When a man loves a woman’ and the worst date ever was the time when this guy took me out and tried to get me drunk so he could hit it. He left me stranded on 6th Street in Austin Texas.” Corina Calderon of All She Can, End of Watch

“I had two horrible dates with the same person. The first date we went to a karaoke bar and he got sexually molested by his ex-girlfriend. He told me about it and he felt really uncomfortable. He wanted to leave and I wanted to confront her. So we stayed and I took her outside and she and I exchanged words. We agreed to be civil, but I missed my turn and never got to sing. The second horrible date happened a couple months into our relationship. We went to ‘Lucky Strike’ for a birthday party and ran into another ex-girlfriend who swore they were meant to be together and that he shouldn’t be bringing me into her work. Long story short, I laughed and asked her to get me a coke. I never got the coke. After all that drama, we are still together and It only took him a over 1000 good dates to make up for those two.” Veronica Diaz-Carranza of Blaze You Out, Taco Shop