'Chica Checa' review: Holý's KVIFF drama is worthy but clumsy

Variety's chica checa review finds Šimon Holý's Karlovy Vary competition entry worthy but clumsy: a well-meaning Czech comedy-drama that lowers the stakes around coming out, drag, and a family home sale, leaving a pleasant crowd-pleaser that critics say is earnest to a fault.

Key Takeaways

• Variety calls Holý's fourth feature a commercial middlebrow crowd-pleaser, not an arthouse proposition, despite its Crystal Globe slot.
• Pavla Tomicová plays widow Zdena; Jan Cina is her son Lukáš, a gay drag queen living in France who comes out after she uses a homophobic slur.
• Reviewers flag inconsistencies, TV-level design, contrived tension, and clashing performances as key weaknesses.
• The film premieres at Karlovy Vary alongside festival highlights including Jesse Eisenberg's President's Award and Trine Dyrholm's The Guest.

What Is 'Chica Checa' About?

Momentous events such as the sale of the family home, a young man coming out to his family, or the staging of a drag performance in a small town would seem like perfect ingredients for an intensely dramatic film. But in his fourth feature Chica Checa, premiering in the Crystal Globe competition at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czech director Šimon Holý lowers the temperature, crafting a pleasant comedy-drama where there is never any doubt that all will be fine in the end.

Zdena (Pavla Tomicová) lives alone in a Czech village, spending most of her time at her ailing mother's hospital bedside. Soon after she gets an offer to sell her family home, her son Lukáš (Jan Cina), who lives in France, visits. When she uses a homophobic slur during a TV night, Lukáš comes out as gay and reveals he works as a drag queen.

Why Does Variety Call the Film Clumsy?

Centered on a middle-aged woman at a turning point in her life, this Czech comedy-drama is earnest to a fault. Variety argues it works better as a local crowd-pleaser than an arthouse title, but remains too clumsy formally and thematically to leave much of an impression.

That will-this-do feeling runs from garish, TV-level costume design to inexplicable wide-lens shots. Characters call Zdena isolated since her husband's death, even though the film opens on her at a dance. One sequence where Lukáš lashes out at his mother comes out of nowhere, injecting conflict that is quickly resolved in a story that threatens to flatline.

How Does 'Chica Checa' Fit Into Karlovy Vary 2026?

Chica Checa shares the Crystal Globe lineup as Karlovy Vary draws major names. Jesse Eisenberg is at the festival as recipient of the President's Award, while Trine Dyrholm stars in Mads Mengel's The Guest, which also premieres there. For more festival coverage, see our Streaming & TV Alerts hub.

Variety critic Elena Lazic published the assessment on July 5, 2026. Read the original Variety review for the full critique.

Is 'Chica Checa' Worth Watching?

By morning, mother and son are immediately over their hurtful argument, a resolution Variety calls lazy yet consistent with the film's belief that people are too reasonable for conflict to last. The review warns there is a thin line between positive representation and the glib idea that motherly love always overcomes intolerance.

Tomicová's mannered, wide-eyed performance clashes with Cina's naturalistic turn, producing disjointed awkwardness. Chica Checa promises low-effort delight at times, but Variety concludes it is too uneven to fully deliver.