No one in the world loves Casa Bonita as much as Trey Parker, and it’s not even close.
That much is clear after watching a 90-minute documentary called “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!,” which follows the co-creator of “South Park” and partner Matt Stone on a journey to reopen the beloved Lakewood restaurant they visited as kids growing up in Colorado.
The film has so far only played at prestigious events like Tribeca Film Festival and Telluride Film Festival, but locals will get to see it first when it comes to the Alamo Drafthouse Sloan’s Lake starting on Sept. 6. It then rolls out to select theaters across the U.S. and will stream on Paramount+ this fall.
“¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” is a must-see for Denver-area fans not only because the landmark is a local one, but also because it’s hard to fathom just how decrepit the building was after decades of neglect.
“Have you ever seen ‘Kitchen Nightmares’? It’s the very, very worst one of those you could possibly ever imagine,” Parker told The Denver Post in 2022.
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When viewers see the dirt clogging the air vents and tumbling out of air ducts, metal posts rotting to become structurally unsound, and the layers of grime and fire damage throughout the kitchen, it’s easy to understand why Casa Bonita’s renovation took nearly two years. That’s even before you consider construction woes teams on the ground encountered, such as a 5,000-gallon-per-day leak in the new pool and having to redo a shoddy job on the kitchen floor.
“This is the single most dangerous thing I’ve ever seen,” the construction manager says in one clip, pointing to a narrow hole in the ground flanked by electrical boxes where cliff divers exit the pool.
It cost Stone and Parker an estimated $40 million-plus to, as they prefer to say, “restore” Casa Bonita. No level of business savvy could ever sign off on that type of project. It requires blind passion.
“¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” highlights how Parker was enchanted by and mildly obsessed with the Pink Palace from a young age. His father, Randy Parker, says in the movie that when the family visited Casa Bonita, the younger Parker would run around talking about what he’d change to improve the experience. In one prophetic clip from 2012, the “Book of Mormon” cast visits Casa Bonita and Stone jokes about how Parker may one day own the place.
Director Arthur Bradford and producer Jennifer Ollman aptly capture the Colorado culture surrounding the venue by visiting the annual Casa Bonita-themed art show NEXT Gallery and following the incessant media coverage about its promised reopening. As the deadline to open the doors draws closer, they interview fans who are camped out in the parking lot in hopes of being the first to dine there.
Denver Chef Dana “Loca” Rodriguez plays a starring role as the resolute leader of kitchen operations and it’s a joy to watch her at work, especially when she’s using the colorful language characteristic of a conventional “South Park” episode.
There are other little details in “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” to delight dedicated locals. For example, the documentary follows the restaurant’s construction in the 1970s and sets the record straight about the original color. (It’s “dusty pink,” according to one of its leading designers.) It also offers deep insight into Parker’s creative vision for the new and improved Casa Bonita.
The film is funny, of course, but it’s also heartfelt. As excitement builds for the grand reopening, it becomes clear the owners feel the weight of the public’s expectations. Fear about the concept not working is palpable from everyone involved. (Though as the documentary shows, that was a common sentiment in 1974 when Casa Bonita first opened, too.) Parker and Stone appear terrified to let fans down.
The good news is we know how this story ends. Casa Bonita reopened to much fanfare in 2023 and has since served about half a million guests, most of whom have shared rave reviews. In a post-screening panel at the Telluride Film Festival, Parker said Casa Bonita is not yet profitable, but the fact reservations open to everyone soon should help. The release of “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” may also go a long way, as it inspired excitement to visit among many viewers.
The biggest takeaway from the film, however, should be that anyone will get to visit at all. It underscores the reality that Casa Bonita would have probably remained closed forever – relegated to a distant, cliff-diving, sopapilla-serving memory – without Stone and Parker’s intervention.
“No one would have done it the way we did because it didn’t make any sense and it wasn’t smart,” Stone says in the documentary. “I’m really proud.”
